It is indeed a matter of concern that as many as 77 invalid votes including 21 from Parliamentarians were found in counting held on 20.07.2017 for the Presidential elections where only law-makers vote. Persons not knowing how to vote in preferential system of voting cannot be supposed to be good law-makers. While plenty of educated persons in the country are jobless with regular increase in number, it is time that some minimum educational qualification may be fixed for contesting elections.
Otherwise also Central Government and Election Commission should have acted jointly for some instant action to remove system of cumbersome preferential voting for the Presidential elections since there were only two contestants. Rather voting could have been arranged through Electronic Voting Machines-EVM with countable voter-verified-paper-audit-trail VVPAT for a fool-proof, non-controversial, economical and fast system.
Following the bitter experience of invalid votes, Central Government and Election Commission should take opposition in confidence for voting through EVMs equipped with VVPAT for forthcoming Vice Presidential elections to be held on 05.08.2017 where also only two contestants are presently in field with absolutely no need for a cumbersome preferential voting system which requires voting through specially printed ballot papers.
For future, system should be to have at least 34-percent voters should be proposers for candidates contesting Presidential and Vice Presidential posts to ensure straight fight between two serious candidates abolishing and need of cumbersome preferential voting system.
SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL