The number of Non-Resident Indians registering themselves as overseas electors saw a two-fold jump in the last three years, according to data from the Election Commission. However, the figure remains too low in comparison to the total number of people entitled to cast their vote.
The total number of overseas electors is 24,348, Minister of State for Law PP Chaudhary said on Dec.15 in a statement during the ongoing winter session of parliament. These include 22,428 men and 1,920 women. Despite having a column for transgenders in the form, no one has registered in the category. Out of 24,348 overseas voters, as many as 23,556 people are from Kerala while 37 persons are from Delhi.
There were 1,003,7761 NRIs in May 2012, the report of the multi-agency committee that was exploring the feasibility of alternative options for voting by overseas electors, showed, PTI reported. Only 11,846 people were registered as overseas electors, the committee said, quoting the electoral roll data of 2014. Of these, 11,140 are registered as men while only 706 are women.
The government tabled a bill in the Lok Sabha on Dec. 18 in an effort to enable overseas Indians to exercise their right to vote through proxy.
Until now, overseas citizens with an Indian passport are eligible to vote only if they are physically present in the constituency they are registered in. This requires them to register themselves and then come to India so as to be present on the day of the election.
However, according to the provisions of ‘Representation of the People Act (Amendment) Bill, 2017’ introduced by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, those overseas Indians who are entitled to vote in India, can now appoint a proxy voter to cast their franchise on their behalf.
The bill says the necessary provision of coming to India to cast ballot caused “hardship” to overseas electors.
The draft law that has been introduced in India seeks to make the election law gender neutral. This will be done by replacing the term ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’ to benefit service voters.
In August this year, the Union government approved changes to electoral laws to allow Non- Resident Indians to vote in Assembly and Lok Sabha election from overseas.
The proposal to let NRIs vote was taken up seriously by the Election Commission in 2014 when it received several requests in this regard — most prominently from the Ministry of Overseas Affairs.