Organisation : Election Commission of India
Facility : Proxy Voter
Applicable For : Service Voters
Details : https://www.electionin.in/uploads/5655-ServiceVoter.pdf
Home Page : https://svp.eci.gov.in/
ECI Proxy Voter
A service voter may appoint (by applying to Returning Officer in Form 13 F of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 – Form available at the website of Election Commission) any person as his / her proxy to give vote on his / her behalf and in his / her name at the polling station.
Related : ECI Service Voters’ Portal : www.electionin.in/5653.html
The proxy shall have to be ordinary resident of that constituency. He need not be a registered voter but he / she must not be disqualified to be registered as a voter.
Procedure of Appointment
A ‘proxy’ can be appointed in the following two ways :
a. If a service voter is at the place of his posting, he has to put his signature in Form 13F before the Commanding Officer of the Unit and then to send the Form to his proxy for affixing his / her signature before a Notary / First Class Magistrate. Thereafter, the proxy can submit the Form to the Returning Officer concerned.
b. If a service voter is at his native place, both he and his proxy can sign Form 13 F before a Notary / First Class Magistrate and then send to the Returning Officer concerned.
When should the application for appointment of a proxy be made?
Ans. Application for appointment of a proxy should be received by the Returning Officer before the last date of filing of nomination papers.
An application for appointment of a proxy received after the last date of filing nomination papers cannot be considered for the election in progress, though it will be valid for subsequent elections unless revoked / changed
FAQ
For what period a proxy remains valid?
Ans. The provision for voting through proxy is valid till the person making the appointment is a service voter.
Once appointed, the proxy will continue until his appointment is revoked by the service voter. The facility of proxy voter can be revoked and the proxy can be changed at any time or for any number of times by the Classified Service Voter.
Thus a Classified Service Voter can revoke and opt back for postal ballot route or even substitute the proxy by intimating the Returning Officer in Form 13 G of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 (Form available at the website of Election Commission). Revocation will become effective from the date it is received by the Returning Officer.
How does a ‘proxy’ record the vote on behalf of the service voter at the polling station ?
Ans. The proxy can record the vote on behalf of the service voter at the polling station to which service voter is assigned, in the same manner as any other elector assigned to that polling station.
The proxy will be entitled to vote on behalf of the service voter, in addition to the vote that he / she may cast in his / her own name if he/she is a registered elector in the constituency, at the polling station to which he / she has been normally assigned.