No voter left behind: inclusion, participation and challenges

Detail

1. The idea: universal franchise must reach every voter

• Universal adult franchise means every citizen aged 18 or above can vote (Article 326). Caste, religion, sex, wealth or education do not matter.
• Having the right is not enough. Old age, disability, a job far from home or a remote village can still stop a person from voting.
• So the ECI's motto is "No voter to be left behind". It changes how voting works so that the voter does not have to fit the system.
• Article 326 allows a person to be disqualified only for non-residence, unsoundness of mind, crime, or corrupt or illegal practice. The details are in s.16 of the RPA 1950. Every other adult citizen must be able to vote.

2. Absentee voters and home voting

• Absentee voter: a voter in a notified category who may vote by postal ballot, including from home, instead of going to the polling station. The rules are in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, as amended from 2019.
• Who counts as an absentee voter:
• Senior citizens above 85. The 2019 rules set the age at 80 [4]. It was raised to 85 in 2024.
• Persons with Disabilities (PwD) with 40% benchmark disability (a disability of at least 40%, as certified under disability law).
• Absentee Voters on Essential Services (AVES): notified workers, for example in police, fire, health, power, transport or media, who are on duty on polling day [4].

• COVID-19 suspected or affected persons were also added as a category [5].

• How home voting works (Form 12D):

• The election is notified. Within 5 days, the voter sends Form 12D to the Returning Officer (RO, the officer who runs the election in a constituency) [3][5].
• A team of polling officials and security staff visits the voter's home [3].

• The voter marks the ballot in secret. The team takes it back to be counted [3].

• Home voting was offered across India for the first time in the 2024 Lok Sabha election [2].

• Over 81 lakh voters above 85 and over 90 lakh PwD voters were registered. In total, more than 1.7 crore voters could use the facility [3].
• Home voting is optional. These voters can still go to the polling booth.

3. Postal ballots

• Postal ballot: a paper ballot that the voter marks away from the polling station and returns to the RO. It is allowed under s.60 of the RPA 1951, which sets special voting procedures for certain classes of voters.
• Who can use it:
• service voters
• election staff on duty
• essential-service workers (AVES)
• preventive detainees (people held to stop a possible offence, not to punish one)

• absentee voters (85+ and PwD)

• In 2025, the ECI made the counting of postal ballots more orderly [10].

4. Service voters, ETPBS and proxy voting

• Service voter: someone who cannot vote at home because of their job. Under s.20 of the RPA 1950, this covers:
• members of the armed forces
• a state's armed police serving outside that state

• government employees posted abroad, for example in Indian embassies [8]

• The service voter's spouse who lives with them is also a service voter. The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 changed the word "wife" to "spouse", so the rule is now gender-neutral.

• Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), 2016: a blank postal ballot is sent to the service voter electronically, as soon as the final list of candidates is ready [8].
• The voter downloads, prints and marks the ballot, then posts it back.
• It works one way only. The ballot travels electronically, but the vote does not. The vote returns on paper.
• Security: an OTP and PIN protect the voter's secrecy. A unique QR code on each ballot stops anyone from returning it twice [8].
• It was first piloted in the Nellithope by-election in Puducherry [9].

• Its upgrade, ETPBMS, is linked with the Department of Posts, so the voter can return the ballot by Speed Post for free [8].

• Proxy voting, 2003: a classified service voter (for example, armed forces staff in sensitive postings) can name a proxy, a trusted relative who lives in the voter's home constituency. The proxy votes there on their behalf.

5. Making booths reachable for everyone

• For PwD voters:
• the Saksham app, to ask for a wheelchair, transport or help at the booth
• braille on EVM ballot units and braille EPICs (Electors Photo Identity Cards)

• ramps, wheelchairs and volunteers at booths

• For groups that are hard to reach:

• special enrolment drives for PVTGs (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups)

• drives for transgender voters, who can register as "third gender"

• One-voter polling stations: the ECI holds that no voter is too few. The best-known example is Banej in Gir forest, Gujarat (NCERT Class 8, Fig. 5.6). A polling team goes there for a single voter.

• Scale: the 2024 general election had over 96.88 crore registered electors, the largest electorate in the world [7].
• Remote voting for internal migrants is dealt with under electoral reforms.

6. Who cannot vote: the prisoners' voting bar

• Prisoners' voting bar (s.62(5) RPA 1951): these people cannot vote:
• anyone in prison serving a sentence
• anyone in prison as an undertrial, that is, not yet convicted

• anyone in lawful police custody

• Exception: a preventive detainee can vote by postal ballot (proviso to s.62(5)).

• Case: Anukul Chandra Pradhan v. Union of India (1997). The Supreme Court upheld the bar. It said:
• voting is a statutory right (given by law), not a fundamental right, so Parliament can limit it
• keeping people with criminal links out of elections is a fair aim

• limits on prisons and police resources make booths inside jails hard to run

• The debate:

• Against the bar: undertrials have not been found guilty, yet they lose the vote, while a convict on bail can vote. Critics call this disproportionate (the penalty is bigger than the purpose needs).

• For the bar: Parliament has the power to decide, and running booths in jails is hard in practice.

• Other legal disqualifications: non-residence and unsoundness of mind declared by a court (Article 326; s.16 RPA 1950).

7. Participation: who votes and who does not

• 2024 Lok Sabha turnout: 65.79% at polling stations [6]. About one in three electors did not vote (NCERT: about 34%).
• Women vs men, 2024:
• women's turnout was 65.78%
• men's turnout was 65.55%

• so women voted at a slightly higher rate, a gender gap of −0.23% (excluding Surat) [6]

• Women's turnout has matched or exceeded men's since the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In the first general election (1951-52), women's turnout was far below men's.

• Urban apathy: many city voters do not turn up, even though booths are close and literacy is high (NCERT Class 8, Q6). Common reasons:
• voters see polling day as a holiday
• they feel their vote will not count

• many migrants are still enrolled in their home towns

• Ways the ECI raises participation:

• Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP), started in 2009: the ECI's main voter-education programme. It runs targeted drives for women, young people, cities and tribal areas.
• Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) in schools and colleges, which teach future voters how elections work.
• First-time voter drives for people who have just turned 18.
• National Voters' Day (NVD): 25 January, the day the ECI was founded in 1950. It has been observed since 2011, and citizens take the NVD pledge to vote without fear and without being swayed by caste, religion, money or inducements (NCERT Class 11 box).

8. Challenges to free and fair elections (the "potholes")

Challenge	What it means
Money power	Spending above legal limits; cash, liquor or gifts given to voters
Criminal candidates	Parties field people facing serious criminal cases because they can win
Voter apathy	Low turnout, especially in cities
Fake news and deepfakes	AI-made videos and false messages that mislead voters
Social-media campaigning	Fast, hard-to-trace campaigns that sit outside the usual checks (NCERT Class 8, Q8)
Intimidation and violence	Booth capturing; threats to weaker sections
Caste and religious appeals	Banned as a "corrupt practice" under s.123(3) RPA 1951, but still used
Errors in rolls	Names missing, duplicates, dead voters still listed
Trust deficit	Doubts about EVMs, counting or impartiality

• NCERT Class 11's answer: laws have limits.
• Rules alone cannot stop money power or hate appeals.

• Free elections also need alert citizens, a free media and watchdog organisations (civil-society groups that track candidates and spending).

• Fixes for these problems are covered under electoral reforms.

Prelims Hooks

• Absentee-voter age: 80+ in the 2019 rules [4]; 85+ for the 2024 Lok Sabha election [3]. PwD voters need a 40% benchmark disability.
• Form 12D: the application for home voting or postal ballot. It must reach the RO within 5 days of the election notification [5].
• Home voting across India for the first time: 2024 Lok Sabha election [2].
• ETPBS (2016): the ballot is sent electronically but the vote is returned by post. It is not internet voting. Security uses an OTP, a PIN and a QR code [8].
• Proxy voting is for classified service voters only, since 2003. It is not open to NRIs or the general public.
• s.62(5) RPA 1951: undertrials and people in police custody cannot vote. Preventive detainees can vote by post. Anukul Chandra Pradhan (1997) upheld this.
• 2024 turnout: 65.79% overall. Women 65.78% vs men 65.55% [6]. Electorate over 96.88 crore [7].
• National Voters' Day: 25 January, the ECI's founding day in 1950, observed since 2011. SVEEP: 2009.
• Service voter (s.20 RPA 1950) includes state armed police serving outside their state, not inside it. "Wife" became "spouse" in 2021.

Mains Points

• From the right to vote to the ability to vote: home voting, postal ballots, ETPBS and one-voter booths treat universal franchise as a duty of the state to deliver, not just a legal promise. They also bring postal-ballot risks: secrecy at home, pressure from family, and delays in counting.
• The prisoners' vote: the blanket bar on undertrials, who are presumed innocent, is hard to defend as proportionate. Middle paths include voting by undertrials only, or postal voting for some prisoners.
• Participation: women now vote as much as men, which shows social change. But about a third of electors still do not vote, especially in cities and among migrants. SVEEP, ELCs and remote voting must work alongside better roll maintenance.
• Limits of law (NCERT Class 11): money power, criminal candidates, deepfakes and caste or religious appeals need more than ECI rules. Strong enforcement must combine with citizen vigilance, watchdog groups and media literacy to build trust in elections.