No Proposal To Provide Proxy Voting To Non-Resident Indians : Union Law Minister Tells Lok Sabha
On Friday, responding to the question raised by a Member of Parliament, whether the Government is considering to provide the facility of proxy voting to Non-Residents, the Union Minister Kiren Rijiju answered in the negative."No Sir, no such proposal under consideration", he said.A petition seeking directions to the Central Government to permit NRIs and migrant labourers to exercise...
On Friday, responding to the question raised by a Member of Parliament, whether the Government is considering to provide the facility of proxy voting to Non-Residents, the Union Minister Kiren Rijiju answered in the negative.
"No Sir, no such proposal under consideration", he said.
A petition seeking directions to the Central Government to permit NRIs and migrant labourers to exercise their franchise through casting their votes by postal ballots had been preferred before the Apex Court. As recently as in the month of November, 2022, a Bench comprising the then CJI, UU Lalit and Justice Bela M. Trivedi disposed of the plea. The Attorney General for India had apprised the Bench that the Union Government had already considered the plea and that the Election Commission of India is aware of the same. When the Court categorically asked whether the Centre had considered the option of digital voting, the Attorney General conceded that -
"I don't wish to draw the curtain on this subject. But in June 2020, the government went into the matter and deferred it to be reconsidered. I have no idea what consideration went into the decision making process."
The disposal of the plea was on the ground that the matter was not fit to be taken up by the Court when directions were already issued by it to the Election Commision to form a Committee to look into ways to facilitate voting for NRIs and migrant workers. It appears that a Committee was indeed constituted and its report was placed on record. The Union Government has accepted the recommendation and accordingly the Representation of the People Amendment Bill, 2018 was introduced to amend Section 60 and provide for proxies for NRIs to cast vote. Although the Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha, it got lapsed as it was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
While dismissing the plea, the Apex Court had recorded a statement from the Attorney General stating that the concerned authorities have taken note of the issue and a solution would be found not just to facilitate voting for NRIs and migrant labourers but to also ensure that integrity of the voting process remains intact.