Since country’s first general elections in 1952, serving soldiers have been casting votes far away from native constituencies through postal ballot which has been a cumbersome process for many. As per the procedure during the Assembly and smaller elections a soldier has to request for ballot papers through his Commanding Officer which remained a tedious process and generally avoided by defence personnel. But this time the forthcoming Assembly elections in Haryana will see a deviation from the traditions with soldiers posted at three cantonments of the state will be able to exercise their franchise directly on 15th October. No doubt till date this section remained a miniscule element as far as state politics was concerned now with parties focusing on them, they will turn into a formidable force forcing a change in voting pattern obvious a high turnout to decide the fate of many in fray. The development is significant because defence personnel are considered a strong consolidated vote bank. In Haryana there are around 2.8 lakh ex-servicemen and over a lakh serving personnel in Indian Army, Air Force and Navy and even para-military forces. Haryana Government had announced a slew of measures to woo them in large numbers by introducing a steep hike in financial assistance to gallantry award winners and subsidised housing schemes. Jammu and Kashmir too will be going to Assembly elections by the end of the year as the term of present House expires on 19th January, 2015. Taking a cue from the direct voting system adopted by Haryana, the State Government has a large untapped vote bank in serving and former defence personnel population including from the para-military forces. But before that State Government will have to win over them especially with contentious issues of Value Added Tax (VAT) on CSD goods and Fauji Housing Colony land acquisitions remaining unresolved. Surprisingly Jammu and Kashmir has highest rate of 13.5 per cent VAT on CSD goods against Nil to 4 per cent in other states. A job reservation for young retiring soldiers is another touchy issue. It is 6 per cent against 15 per cent in other states. Will Jammu and Kashmir follow Haryana path to its advantage?
