The Election Commission on Monday told the Supreme Court it is exploring the possibility of non-resident Indians casting votes through the internet from overseas. However, it said it is almost impossible to make any such arrangement in the ongoing general election as the electoral rolls have been prepared for almost all constituencies.
The bench headed by Justice KS Radhakrishnan, however, asked the EC to do something in this election itself. ?You still have time… Why don’t you at least examine this (regarding 11,844 registered NRIs),? it said, and wondered whether NRIs, who are registered voters, can be allowed to exercise their franchise through postal ballot.
The EC submitted that it has appointed an expert panel to explore the possibility of allowing NRIs to cast votes. The bench then asked the commission to file its response and posted the case for April 11.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by NRI Shamsheer VP, who contended that the existing provision which mandates NRI voters to be physically present in the constituency to cast votes was discriminatory and violative of fundamental rights. He submitted that over a crore people will be entitled to vote if NRIs were allowed to vote from overseas. Seeking recognition of the right to external voting, the PIL said the existing provisions create two categories of haves and have-nots among the 1,00,37,761 NRIs abroad, as only 11,000 have enrolled themselves.
The PIL said 114 countries have adopted external voting, including 20 Asian countries. It said external voting could be made possible by setting up booths at the diplomatic mission, or by postal, proxy or electronic voting. Shamsheer migrated to the UAE 12 years ago, prior to which he was enrolled as a voter in Calicut, Kerala. He was later removed from the list because of his NRI status.