Doctors are concerned about the corruption that seeps into elections conducted by the Medical Council of India (MCI) due to the postal ballot system. Maharashtra Medical Council’s election is under process and many doctors from the state are opposing the present system. A senior doctor said to DNA on the condition of anonymity, “This election should be conducted like general elections. In the ballot by post currently in practice, the chances of corruption are huge. So they should correct the system immediately to maintain transparency.”
On interviewing a senior doctor from Karnataka, who wished to remain anonymous and had contested in the MCI elections before, he explained the various levels at which corruption operates in a postal ballot system of election. He says that corruption operates at three levels.

• Postal ballots can be intercepted at the post office level from reaching the concerned person who has to cast their vote. These will later find their way to the ballot boxes with votes for the candidate involved.
• All the ballots which are returned back with ‘addressee not found’ can be intercepted and rigged.
• Also, ballot papers can be directly taken and the concerned person can be asked to cast their vote in favour of a particular candidate. As there is no secrecy the doctors may be forced to cast the vote in front of them.

The MCI is a statutory body with the responsibility of establishing and maintaining high standards of medical education and recognition of medical qualifications in India. It registers doctors who can practice in India in order to protect and promote the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine. Every state has representatives in the MCI who raise issues that doctors in their state face and resolve them.
Such corrupt practices in the elections not only corrupt the MCI but also perpetuate corruption in other institutions like the postal service.

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