Recently, the Election Commission of India (ECI) informed the Ministry of Law and Justice that it is “technically and administratively ready” to extend the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) to Non Resident Indian (NRI) voters for elections next year in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. This would mean that NRIs would be able to cast vote from overseas through postal ballots.
The Election Commission (EC) told the government it had received representations from the Indian origin population around the globe about their request to facilitate voting through postal votes since travelling to India only for this purpose is a “costly affair”. EC’s letter that was addressed to the Law Secretary stated that NRIs “cannot leave the country of their residence owing to specific compulsions of employment, education or other engagements”.
The process of voting and the eligibility for the same has been clarified to avoid confusion.
- An NRI can vote in the constituency in which her place of residence, as mentioned in the passport, is located.
- She can only vote in person and will have to produce her passport in original at the polling station for establishing identity. Any NRI interested in voting through the postal ballot will have to inform the Returning Officer (RO) not later than five days after the notification of the election.
- The RO of a parliamentary or assembly constituency is responsible for the conduct of elections in the parliamentary or assembly constituency.
- On receiving such information, the RO will dispatch the ballot paper electronically.
- The NRI voters will download the ballot paper, mark their preference on the printout and send it back along with a declaration attested by an officer appointed by the diplomatic or consular representative of India in the country where the NRI is resident.
- However, it is not clear right now, if the voter will return the ballot paper herself through ordinary post or drop it off at the Indian Embassy, which may then segregate the envelopes constituency-wise and send them to the Chief Electoral Officer of the state concerned for forwarding to the RO.
The EC began to look for options to enable NRIs to vote from overseas after receiving several requests, including one from former Rajya Sabha MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal and the Ministry of Overseas Affairs, and three writ petitions were filed by NRIs in the Supreme Court in 2013 and 2014. A 12-member committee was set up after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to study mainly three options — voting by post, voting at an Indian mission abroad and online voting.
The option of online polling was ruled out as the committee felt that this could compromise “secrecy of voting”. It also declined the proposal to vote at Indian missions abroad as they do not have adequate resources. In 2015, the panel finally recommended that NRIs should be given the “additional alternative options of e-postal ballot and proxy voting”, apart from voting in person. Under proxy voting, a registered elector can delegate his voting power to a representative. The Law Ministry accepted the recommendation on proxy voting.
The committee had consulted national political parties and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on the options being considered for NRIs to cast their vote abroad. Among parties, only the NCP has expressed complete support and according to the BSP, BJP and CPI, postal ballots were not a viable option due to time constraint. The Congress was not in favour of sending the postal ballot paper electronically. The MEA expressed strong reservations over attesting the declaration as the process might be difficult in non-democratic countries.
In 2017, the Union Cabinet passed the proposal on proxy voting rights for NRIs. The government then brought a Bill suggesting an amend in the Representation of the People Act 1950. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha and was awaiting Rajya Sabha’s approval when it lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. This proposal has still not been revived. Now the EC has only pushed for postal voting rights for NRIs and not proxy voting. To extend the postal voting facility to overseas voters, the government only needs to amend the Conduct of Election Rules 1961. It doesn’t require Parliament’s nod.
Continuous requests from various sections of NRIs from around the world and recommendation from ministers for allowing voting has been an indicator towards the need of participation. According to a UN report of 2015, India’s diaspora population is the largest in the world at 16 million people. Registration of NRI voters, in comparison, has been very low: a little over one lakh overseas Indians registered as voters in India, according to the EC. In last year’s Lok Sabha elections, roughly 25,000 of them flew to India to vote. Hence, it is important to simplify the process and make voting available for the Indians across the globe for increased participation.
