The move to ease voting for overseas citizens

News: The ECI has proposed to extend the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETBPS) for NRIs.

How overseas voters currently vote in Indian elections?

Prior to 2010, an NRI who had stayed out of India for more than 6  months at a stretch was not able to vote in elections. As their names were deleted from electoral rolls.

After Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months have the right to vote, but only in person at the polling station where they have been enrolled as an overseas elector.

How has the existing facility worked so far?

A very low proportion of eligible overseas residents actually registered or turned up to vote. The proviso of having to visit the polling booth in person has discouraged eligible voters from exercising their mandate.

To remove this restriction the ECI has approached the government to permit NRIs to vote via Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETBPS).

What is ETPBS and how does it function?

The Conduct of election Rules, 1961, was amended in 2016 to allow service voters to use the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETBPS). Under this, postal ballots are electronically sent to service voters. The service voters can then download the ETPB, register their mandate on the ballot and then send it to the returning officer of the constituency via ordinary mail. The postal ballot must reach the returning officer by 8 a.m. on the day of the counting of results.

Will this facility be available to all overseas voters across countries?

ECI officials have asked the Law Ministry to explore the possibility of extending postal ballots to overseas electors and not restrict it to any particular country.

In March 2021, the Ministry of External Affairs informed ECI that implementation may have “huge logistical challenges” and needs “a realistic assessment of requirements.”

The ETPBS method allowed for greater turnout among service voters in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Way Forward: For increasing NRI voting there can be a postal ballot mechanism that allows for proper authentication of the ballot at designated consular/embassy offices. An effective postal system should ease this process for NRIs. The rules must be clearly framed for eligibility on the basis of time spent away from the country.

Source: This post is created based on the article “The move to ease voting for overseas citizens” published in The Hindu on 28^th March 2022.