No postal ballots for NRIs in state elections |
Non-Resident Indians eligible for voting will not get the facility of postal ballots in the upcoming five assembly elections in the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry. These elections are to be held in March and April 2021. The government wants the Election Commission to consult various stakeholders before the facility is rolled out. Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora said, “As far as NRI voters are concerned, the commission has sent a very empathetic and very positive note to the law ministry over a month-and-a-half back over finding a way out for that. The law ministry referred it to the Ministry of External Affairs. I spoke to the Foreign Secretary also. They have responded in detail and they have said we should have a broad-spectrum meeting of the stakeholders,”. As of now, overseas Indians are free to cast their votes in constituencies they are registered in. The Election Commission has proposed to the government to extend the ETPBS facility, so far available only to service voters, to eligible overseas Indian voters as well. In a letter to the legislative secretary in the law ministry on 27th November last year, the commission said that with the successful execution of ETPBS in case of service voters, it is now “confident” that the facility can also be extended to the overseas electors. The EC said it has been receiving several representations from the Indian Diaspora residing abroad to facilitate voting through postal ballots since such overseas electors are not in a position to be present in their polling area as travelling to India for this purpose is a costly affair, and they cannot leave the country of their residence owing to specific compulsions of employment, education or other engagements. Voting for the five assembly elections will begin on 27th March, with West Bengal having eight phases continuing till 29th April, while counting of votes will be done on 2nd May.
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