GUWAHATI, April 11 � Once again, Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh gave the Assam Assembly election a miss by not casting his vote from the Dispur constituency, even though, officially he is a permanent resident of Dispur and a Rajya Sabha member from Assam.
Dr J Balaji, DC, Kamrup (Metro) confirmed that there was no application from the Prime Minister asking for postal ballot facility.
�The question of postal ballot to the Prime Minister does not arise as neither has he sought, nor have we given him a postal ballot. There is no such application from him in our records,� Dr Balaji told The Assam Tribune.
He, however, also added that any person on election duty or government duty anywhere else than his constituency, is entitled to exercise vote through postal ballot, if she or he applies for the same.
During the Lok Sabha election in 2009, the Prime Minister pleasantly surprised everyone in the State by casting his vote from Guwahati. Singh accompanied by wife Gursharan Kaur stood in a queue like a common person at Dispur Government Higher Secondary School polling station in Guwahati.
�We all know that as the Prime Minister of India he has a very busy schedule. But if he has not even sought the postal ballot, he has set a very bad precedent,� social activist Subodh Sarma commented.
The Prime Minister visited the State on April 2 and April 7 ahead of the first and second phases of the election to campaign for his party.
Dhirendra Nath Chakravarty, general secretary of Assam Senior Citizens� Association and member of Public Forum Against Corruption strongly criticized Dr Singh�s absence on the polling day.
�It shows that the PM is not serious about discharging his responsibility as a bona fide citizen of the country. Any person fully conscious about his Constitutional right would not miss this opportunity of discharging his basic political obligation,� he said.
