Time has come to use tech-driven methods to allow overseas Indian voters to participate in polls: Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar | India News
NEW DELHI: Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Friday said the time has come for India to allow its 1.34 crore non-resident Indian (NRI) voters to cast their vote from their respective countries of residence, using the electronically transmitted postal ballot facility (ETPBS). This, he added, would require the due involvement of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian High Commissions worldwide.
Kumar, who was addressing IFS trainee officers from the 2022 batch along the theme ‘India — the Mother of Democracies and Role of ECI’ at Nirvachan Sadan here, in reply to a question on overseas voters, said time was ripe for the fifth largest economy of the world to invoke technology-driven methodology to facilitate its over 1.34 crore overseas voters to participate in elections by ETPBS. In this potential endeavor, the role of the foreign service & our High Commissions/Embassies world wide, would be vital, he was quoted by an EC spokesperson as saying.
EC had in 2015 proposed an amendment in Section 60 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, to allow the facility of postal ballot and proxy voting to overseas electors. Later in 2020, the poll body wrote to the law ministry proposing that NRIs be allowed to vote through ETPBS, a facility then already extended to service voters that include members of the Armed forces, Central paramilitary forces and government employees serving abroad. It said the EC was technically and administratively ready to extend this facility to overseas electors, who as per the existing law must be physically present to vote at the polling station in India where they are registered as voters.
The proposal, which was contested by most opposition parties, is still pending with the law ministry.
While speaking to the trainee IFS officers, Kumar gave an overview of the complexity of numbers & sophistication of process for conducting elections in India. Over 1 million polling stations and over 1 crore polling officials ensure an inclusive, accessible, participative and tech driven elections, he said adding that India’s elections are often hailed as the world’s largest peace-time mobilization conducted with six-sigma precision in terms of movement of men and materials.
Kumar added that IFS officers should utilize this as an example of the comprehensive national power of India.
A batch of 37 trainee IFS officers and 2 diplomats from Bhutan undergoing training at Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign affairs had called on the CEC on Friday as part of their induction training program.
Kumar, who was addressing IFS trainee officers from the 2022 batch along the theme ‘India — the Mother of Democracies and Role of ECI’ at Nirvachan Sadan here, in reply to a question on overseas voters, said time was ripe for the fifth largest economy of the world to invoke technology-driven methodology to facilitate its over 1.34 crore overseas voters to participate in elections by ETPBS. In this potential endeavor, the role of the foreign service & our High Commissions/Embassies world wide, would be vital, he was quoted by an EC spokesperson as saying.
EC had in 2015 proposed an amendment in Section 60 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, to allow the facility of postal ballot and proxy voting to overseas electors. Later in 2020, the poll body wrote to the law ministry proposing that NRIs be allowed to vote through ETPBS, a facility then already extended to service voters that include members of the Armed forces, Central paramilitary forces and government employees serving abroad. It said the EC was technically and administratively ready to extend this facility to overseas electors, who as per the existing law must be physically present to vote at the polling station in India where they are registered as voters.
The proposal, which was contested by most opposition parties, is still pending with the law ministry.
While speaking to the trainee IFS officers, Kumar gave an overview of the complexity of numbers & sophistication of process for conducting elections in India. Over 1 million polling stations and over 1 crore polling officials ensure an inclusive, accessible, participative and tech driven elections, he said adding that India’s elections are often hailed as the world’s largest peace-time mobilization conducted with six-sigma precision in terms of movement of men and materials.
Kumar added that IFS officers should utilize this as an example of the comprehensive national power of India.
A batch of 37 trainee IFS officers and 2 diplomats from Bhutan undergoing training at Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign affairs had called on the CEC on Friday as part of their induction training program.
