EC mulling over internet voting options for NRIs

Thiruvananthapuram: The Union Cabinet Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi said that the Election Commission is exploring ways to implement the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill 2010 and is mulling over options of internet voting for the Non-Resident Indians, reports Ashraf Padanna from Gulf Times.

"We have crossed a milestone by adopting the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill 2010. Now the Election Commission will look into ways to implement it effectively, including Internet voting," Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said.

Indian citizens, who live abroad for more than six months, until did not figure in the voters' list prepared before elections. But now they can register to vote at their permanent place of residence in India (constituency) as given in their passports. However, they are not allowed to vote from overseas. They will also not be allowed to contest the elections.

The minister said various options including online voting, could be explored as it was not easy for the overseas Indians to come back to vote for every elections. The government has promised to bring in comprehensive electoral reforms legislation soon.

"We now have postal voting facility in place for troops posted on the borders and the government staff on election duty elsewhere. However, a similar facility would not be possible for NRIs considering the huge size of their population (estimated to be 25mn). So we need to explore some other options," Ravi said.

Law Minister Veerappa Moily has promised to hold a national consultation on electoral reforms and to consider the views on the modalities for allowing NRI voting right. He has also offered to consider Internet voting once technical expertise and infrastructure were in place.