What Is the Status of Remote Voting for Nris?

What’s in Today’s Article:

• Voting for NRIs

 

Why in news?

• Recently, the Supreme Court disposed of a batch of petitions seeking remote voting for non-resident Indians (NRIs).
• This disposal came after the assurance of the Attorney General that the Centre was looking at ways to facilitate distance voting for NRIs.

 

Voting for NRIs

Size of the NRI electorate

• According to estimates, India has the largest diaspora population, with nearly 1.35 crore non-resident Indians spread across the globe.
  • Many of them are in the Gulf countries, the U.S. and the U.K.
• In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 99,844 NRIs registered and 25,606 electors turned up to vote, with a majority hailing from Kerala (25,534).
• Of the registered overseas electors, 90% belonged to Kerala. Others registered are from Gujarat, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu among other States.

 

Reason for low NRI registration and voting

• India had amended the Representation of the People Act in 2010 to enable eligible NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months to vote.
• However, this amendment put a condition that these NRI electors will have to visit the polling booth in person.
• This is the major reason behind the low percentage of NRI registration and voting.

 

The debate around NRI Voting

• Many observers support the idea that NRIs must visit the pooling booth in person. As per them, those who migrated abroad should not be given special privileges in voting.
• There is other School of thought which argue that NRIs should not be deprived of the franchise because they exercised their right to freely practise a profession or trade.
• Another question raised is whether expatriates who have been living abroad for a long period of time, say upwards of two years, should be given voting rights.
• Other democracies allow absentee voting if overseas electors are not abroad for a specified period and/or if they mention an “intent to return”.
  • Absentee voting enables persons who cannot appear at their designated polling places to vote from another location.
  • The usual method of absentee voting is by mail, although provision is sometimes made for voting at prescribed places in advance of the polling date.

 

Steps taken by the government so far

• Since the in-person proviso of the amended Act discouraged many, petitions were filed in the Supreme Court between 2013 and 2014 by NRIs.
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) formed a committee in 2014 on the Court’s direction to explore the options for overseas electors.
• The committee narrowed it down to two remote voting options — e-postal ballot and proxy voting.
  • Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS)
    • ETPBS involves the NRI voter sending an application to the returning officer in person or online. The returning officer will send the ballot electronically.
    • The voter can then register their mandate on the ballot printout and send it back with an attested declaration.
    • The voter will either send the ballot by ordinary post or drop it at an Indian Embassy where it would be segregated and posted.
  • Proxy voting
    • Proxy voting enables voters to appoint proxies to vote on their behalf.
• In India, ETPBS voting and proxy voting are currently available to service voters, like those in the armed forces or diplomatic missions.
• In 2017, however, the government introduced a Bill to amend the Representation of People Act to remove the condition of in-person voting for NRIs and enable them to vote through proxies.
  • The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in 2018 but never introduced in the Upper House, eventually lapsed with the 16th Lok Sabha.

 

Current status

• In 2020, the ECI wrote to the Law Ministry that it was “technically and administratively ready” to facilitate ETPBS for NRIs in the 2021 Assembly elections in five States.
• However, the MEA flagged huge logistical challenges relating to identity verification of voters, absence of polling agents, the burden on embassy staff etc.
• Later, the Law Ministry in March 2022 said that the Centre was exploring the possibility of allowing online voting for NRIs.
• Recently, in November 2022, the government has given assurance in the Supreme Court that it is looking into various options to enable distance voting.
• It is yet to be seen, however, if any of the remote voting options materialise before the 2024 elections.