Voting Rights to NRIs

Postal Ballot

• type of voting whereby Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Papers (ETPB) are distributed to electors and returned by post
• Under ETPBS, the postal ballot is dispatched electronically and returned via ordinary mail and it is currently only available to service voters like member of the armed Forces, person employed by govt outside India etc.
• Service voters have the option of either voting through postal ballot or through a proxy voter. It includes
• members of Armed Forces of the Union 
• members of forces to which provisions of Army Act, 1950 applies. 
  members of armed police force of a State and serving outside that state 
• persons who are employed by Government of India in a post outside India.

Election Commission (EC) approached the Ministry of Law to permit Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to cast their votes from overseas through postal ballots. EC informed the government that it is ready to extend the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) to voters abroad for elections in 2021 in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

• To extend ETPBS to overseas voters, government only needs to amend the Conduct of Election Rules 1961. It doesn’t require Parliament’s nod.

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. On receiving such information, the RO will dispatch the ballot paper electronically. NRI voters will 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.

Indian NRI’s can also participate in Indian democracy and entitle them to basic human right i.e. right to vote.

• Many countries allow expatriates to vote, with different rules. For instance, a British citizen living abroad can vote by post, or nominate a proxy to do so

concerns like compromise over secrecy of vote, Logistical challenge, outside influence in voting etc.

NRI Voter/Overseas Elector a person who is a citizen of India, absent from the country owing to employment, education etc., has not acquired citizenship of any other country and are otherwise eligible to be registered as a voter in the address mentioned in your passport

Ministry of External Affairs, there are about 3.10 crore NRIs living in different countries across the world. last Lok Sabha elections, roughly 25,000 of them flew to India to vote.

• Voting rights for NRIs were introduced only in 2011, through an amendment to the Representation of the People Act 1950.
• An NRI can vote in the constituency in 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
• Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2017 that proposed to extend proxy voting to overseas Indians lapsed on dissolution of 16th Lok Sabha