E-postal vote for NRIs gets Supreme Court nod

New Delhi: In an order with political overtones, the Supreme Court Monday directed the Centre to implement in eight weeks the Election Commission’s recommenation to allow Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to cast their vote in Indian elections through e-postal ballots from their place of residence.

Under existing provisions of the Representation of the People Act, the NRI voter must be physically present in the constituency to cast his vote in the parliamentary or Assembly elections.

The decision to let over 10 million NRIs spread across various countries to cast their vote is likely to have a huge impact in polls and likely to change the demography and pattern of voting.

It will have a huge bearing in Kerala in particular, with nearly four million of its people living in Gulf countries. Acting on a PIL filed by Dr Shamsheer V.P. alleging that the Representation of Peoples Act provisions were discriminatory, the court had earlier sought the views of the Election Commission on whether NRIs could be allowed to vote.

The commission said in its report that “e-postal ballots, where a blank postal ballot is transferred electronically to NRIs and returned by post, can be employed after validation of the process and pilot implementation in one or two Assembly constituencies.

The process can be scaled up for parliamentary elections, if found feasible, practicable and meeting the objectives of free and fair polls”.