A service voter is someone in the armed forces, or certain other government service, who stays enrolled in their home constituency wherever they are posted. You register through your unit or office, and vote by a postal ballot sent electronically or, in the armed forces and central armed police forces, by proxy.
Who counts as a service voter
Section 20(8) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 gives four categories:
- members of the armed forces of the Union;
- members of a force to which the Army Act, 1950 applies;
- state armed police serving outside their state;
- Government of India employees posted outside India.
The Election Commission’s list includes central armed police forces such as the BSF and CRPF.
Your spouse is covered only if they ordinarily live with you. Since 1 August 2022 that includes a servicewoman’s husband, so older guidance saying “wife” is out of date. Children are not covered.
Registering on Form 2, 2A or 3
Rule 7 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 provides the forms, all on the Commission’s forms page:
- Form 2: the armed forces, and central armed police forces such as the BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP and SSB.
- Form 2A: state armed police serving outside their state.
- Form 3: Government of India employees posted abroad.
You are enrolled where you would live but for your service, in the last part of that constituency’s roll.
The form also covers your spouse and declares that neither of you is on the ordinary roll. Your record office, commandant or head of office verifies it, and it goes through the Commission’s Service Voter Portal, which record offices use, to the Electoral Registration Officer.
Voting by electronic postal ballot
You do not apply. Once the candidate list is final, the Returning Officer sends your ballot through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), under Rule 23 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 as amended in 2016.
Your record office, unit or nodal officer downloads it, and it is printed for you. Mark your vote, seal it in the small envelope, and sign the Form 13A declaration before an officer appointed by your commanding officer or, abroad, the Indian mission. Post both back in the larger envelope.
Postage is free, but the ballot must reach the Returning Officer before counting starts: 8 am on counting day in the 2026 Assembly elections.
Voting by proxy
Members of the armed forces and Army Act forces may instead appoint a proxy under Section 60(a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, becoming “classified service voters” under Rules 27M to 27Q of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. The Commission counts central armed police forces such as the BSF and CRPF among the Army Act forces.
- The proxy must be 18 or over, ordinarily resident in your constituency and not disqualified from registering, but need not be a voter.
- Appoint them on Form 13F, both signing before your commanding officer, a notary or a First Class Magistrate.
- It must reach the Returning Officer by the last date for nominations.
- The appointment lasts while you remain a service voter; Form 13G cancels or replaces it.
The proxy votes in person at your home polling station, and you are sent no postal ballot.
Section 60(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 lets state armed police serving outside their state, Government of India staff abroad and the spouses of all service voters vote only in person or by post, not by proxy; in practice they are sent a postal ballot.
Registering where you are posted
If you are posted at a peace station and have been living there with your family for a reasonable period, you can instead register there as an ordinary elector on Form 6, provided you are not enrolled as a service voter or ordinary elector anywhere else.
Unlike others living away from home, you cannot keep an ordinary registration at your home address: the Commission says service personnel can be enrolled there only as service voters. If you are already a service voter, ask your record office to have that entry deleted before you apply, then check your name on the roll.
Not the same as an overseas elector
Overseas electors, Indian citizens living abroad, register on Form 6A under Section 20A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and must vote in person in India.
A Government of India employee posted abroad is not an overseas elector: they are treated as a service voter on Form 3, and vote by post.
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