By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: P V Abdul Wahab, Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala raised the issue of voting rights for NRIs in the upper house of the Parliament on Wednesday demanding that the long pending issue be addressed immediately.
Representation of Peoples Act 1951 did not prescribe voting rights to a person who is a way from his constituency for more than six months. Because of this provision, the NRIs who had migrated for the purpose of employment, work education etc. to foreign countries and were not available in their home constituencies for more than six months at a stretch could not be nominated as a voter in the voters list.
P V Abdul Wahab (Credit: mathrubhumi.com/)
The Act was amended by the then UPA Government wherein a provision namely Section 20A was brought in wherein the NRIs were given voting rights irrespective of the fact that they were in the constituency for six months or more, with a rider that they should be in the constituencies at the time of voting.
The issue of voting rights to NRIs at their work place abroad was taken up in the Supreme Court by way of a Writ Petition by Dr. Shamsheer VP wherein the Court directed the Election Commission to constitute a Committee to explore possibilities of voting rights to NRIs from their work place abroad.
The Election Commission filed a comprehensive report after giving opportunity to all the political parties to make their positions clear. The EC suggested two options (i) voting by electronic postal ballot, wherein the postal ballot will be sent to the voter by e-mail and he takes a print out of the ballot, physically votes and then send the ballot back to the Returning Officer by post and (ii) voting by proxy.
The said report of the EC was placed before the Supreme Court and the Court directed the Central Government to make its position clear on the report of the EC. The Central Government on 12th Jan. 15 made a categorical statement before the Supreme Court that it is accepting the recommendations of the EC in letter and spirit.
“Since the government has accepted the recommendations of the Election Commission, the only issue which remains to be sorted out is the mode of voting for NRIs,” the IUML lead said in the Parliament, adding, “In this context, I, on behalf of my party, Indian Union Muslim League, fully endorses the recommendation of the Election Commission and is of the firm opinion that electronic postal ballots system should be implemented which protects transparency and secrecy and which also gives the voter a chance to physically exercise his franchise.”
He also suggested that adequate and foolproof safeguards should be in place while implementing this modality leaving no room for any malfunction/tampering of votes/impersonation or duplication etc.
He reminded that majority of the NRIs eligible to vote is from Kerala, and urged upon the Government to move the Amendment Bill in the forthcoming Monsoon session itself to allow the NRIs to cast their votes in the ensuing elections.
Related:
Thanks to Shamsheer, NRIs to be allowed voting