POSTAL BALLOTS FOR NRIs

April 23, 2022

Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, during a recent visit to South Africa and Mauritius, urged Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to register as overseas electors and told them that a proposal on postal ballots for NRIs was being contemplated, the Election Commission of India said.

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He shared with the members of the Indian community that extension of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) facility to overseas voters is being contemplated.
In meetings with NRI groups, Mr. Chandra spoke of the experience of conducting elections in India, which has 950 million voters in over 1 million polling stations.
The ECI had written to the Law Ministry in 2020 proposing that NRIs be allowed to vote through postal ballots, following which the matter has been under consideration by the government.
While the ECI at present allows NRIs to register as overseas electors as long as they have not acquired the citizenship of another country, they have to reach their respective polling booths to cast their votes in person on voting day.
According to an ECI official, as of now there are only 1.12 lakh registered overseas electors.

Source : The Hindu