Manmohan, wife skip voting in home’ state
Prabin Kalita, TNN | Apr 12, 2011, 12.15am IST

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Tags:Prime Minister Manmohan Singh|Gursharan Kaur|Assembly Election

GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife, Gursharan Kaur, whose names are on the voters’ list of Assam, skipped voting in the assembly election that ended on Monday.

The state’s chief electoral officer, Hemanta Narzary, said the PM did not fly down to Assam to cast his vote. Returning officer Nareswar Upadhya, who is in charge of postal ballot, told TOI that Singh also did not apply for a postal ballot.

“Anyone who wants to cast his vote through post has to apply to the Election Commission through form 12A, based on which, we send the postal ballot form to the person. The Prime Minister did not apply for postal ballot and so there was no way he could have cast his vote through the system,” the returning officer said.

Singh and his wife are voters in the prestigious Dispur constituency and their names are listed under serial numbers 721 and 722; their polling station is Dispur Government Higher Secondary School here.

The couple had come down to this polling station in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections to cast their votes.

Congress candidate and social welfare minister Akon Bora is fighting a tough battle against Atul Bora, his rival from Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), to retain the Dispur seat. This constituency has historically registered one of the lowest voter turnouts in the state, with the average poll percentage hovering between 59 per cent and 61 per cent.

Singh, however, campaigned for the Congress across the state. He visited various constituencies twice, once in each phase.

The Prime Minister considers the state as his home. He has been representing Assam in the Rajya Sabha since 1991. He was last elected from the state to the Rajya Sabha in 2007 and his term ends in 2013. Officially, his residence is at Nandan Nagar, Ward No. 51, Sarumataria, in Dispur here. He had rented this house from former Congress chief minister, the late Hiteswar Saikia.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/Manmohan-wife-skip-voting-in-home-state/articleshow/7952105.cms

“It was not possible for me to take a flight from London just to show that I voted,” Salman said when asked why he failed to cast his vote when he had extensively campaigned for some candidates.

When pointed out that his contemporaries Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan had specially flown down to Mumbai from their foreign destinations to perform their duty as a citizen, Salman said “they have the time and money to do so which I do not have“.

@K. Haripriya

I have seen in union territory where congress ruled for many years, tribals were given Rs. 50 for voting by its candidate. It is a festival for them. Who wuld not like to go for voting if money is the part of voting. Now amount may have been increased to Rs 100 or anything. And few months back may be year now, Sonia G., gave her speech at the same UT and is proud of achievemnets(winning election is achievement for congress, you know its a big achievement!) done by her candidate.

I sometimes wonder whether it will actually be short-sighted to focus on contesting elections given that the problems that we face are so massive and so complex…

Might a serious and sustained effort to increase public consciousness be more productive?

What do others think?

This voter fraud and booth capturing seems to be quite prevalent in Tamil Nadu. Last time my mother-in-law went to vote, she was told to leave since there were thugs who were involved in booth capturing. What is the Election commission doing ?