Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 19 February 2024
In a bid to streamline the voting process for service personnel, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has Introduced the Service Voter Portal, a web-based application designed to facilitate voter registration and management of voter details. This initiative aims to ensure that service voters, despite their deployment, can exercise their democratic right effectively.
As per the Final Electoral published on January 5, 2024, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands Parliamentary Constituency boasts a total of 571 registered service voters. Notably, the registration process for service voters differs from that of general electors. The responsibility of enrolling a service voter rests with the Record Officer of the respective service personnel, who ensures the completion of forms and uploads the XML in the required format on the Service Voter portal.
The registration form for service voters can be marked as incomplete by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) if any mandatory field is missing, with relevant remarks provided. Upon successful processing, the name of the service voter is enrolled in the respective Parliamentary constituency. Moreover, the spouse of a service voter who ordinarily resides with them is also granted the facility of Postal Ballot.
The online system aims to provide a convenient and user-friendly platform for Defence Personnel to become Service Voters, facilitating registration and form acceptance. Forms available for service voters include Form 2 for members of the Armed Forces, Form 2A for members of the Armed Police Force serving outside their state, and Form 3 for persons employed under the Government of India serving outside India.
Key features of the Service Voter portal include processing of electoral forms, maintaining updated records of transfers and unit mappings, simultaneous addition and deletion processes, real-time monitoring of form processing, and communication between EROs across constituencies and states.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Mr. B S Jaglan, IAS, has urged service personnel posted in the region to verify their names in the Electoral rolls. Those not yet registered are encouraged to utilize the Service Voter portal for registration, especially in anticipation of the upcoming General Elections to Lok Sabha – 2024.
Service personnel stationed in Andaman & Nicobar Islands can access the Service Voter portal via the following link: https://svp.eci.gov.in.