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The Election Commission has proposed to the federal government to increase the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) facility, to date out there to service voters, to eligible abroad Indian voters. In a letter to the legislative secretary within the legislation ministry on November 27, the Commission mentioned with the profitable execution of ETPBS in case of service voters, it’s now “confident” that the ability can be prolonged to the abroad electors.
“The Commission is technically and administratively ready to extend this facility in general elections to legislative assemblies of Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” the ballot panel mentioned. Elections in these state are due someday in April-June subsequent 12 months.
It mentioned the ballot panel has been receiving a number of representations from Indian diaspora residing overseas to facilitate voting by postal ballots since such abroad electors should not able to be current of their polling space as travelling to India for this objective is a pricey affair and in any other case additionally, they can’t go away the nation of their residence owing to particular compulsions of employment, schooling or different engagements. “Due to protocols associated with COVID-19, downside additional will get compounded,” the letter to the legislation ministry mentioned. The Commission noticed that Section 62 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 envisages proper to vote for each citizen registered within the electoral roll who shouldn’t be topic to disqualification for voting. “Therefore, it is necessary to explore all avenues to enable exercise of a franchise by all eligible electors,” it mentioned.
As of now, abroad Indians are free to forged their votes in constituencies they’re registered. Unofficial knowledge with the EC reveals that solely 10,000 to 12,000 abroad voters have exercised their franchise as a result of they don’t need to spend international forex to come back to India and vote.
Under ETPBS, postal poll is ship electronically to a service voter. The service voter downloads it and makes use of a selected envelope to return it to the returning officer of his constituency. The postal poll ought to attain the returning officer by 8.00 am on the day of the counting. Counting of votes start with counting of postal ballots at 8.00 am. Personnel of armed forces posted exterior their constituencies in ahead areas, personnel of central armed police forces posted in exterior their constituencies state police personnel posted on ballot obligation, embassy employees are thought-about as service voters. The EC has instructed amending the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 to increase ETPBS for abroad electors. The guidelines wre amended in October, 2016 to permit service voters use ETPBS.
ETPBS has almost halved the time in sending and receiving postal ballots from far-flung areas. The Conduct of Election Rules have been additionally modified to permit those that are 80 years of age or above and people with disabilities to make use of postal poll to forged vote. The similar facility was prolonged for COVID-19 sufferers. But this postal poll facility is totally different from ETPBS.
For abroad electors, EC has mentioned the voter must intimate the returning officer that he r she desires to make use of postal poll. The returning officer will then electronically transmit the poll paper to the voter by means specified by the EC. The Commission requested the federal government to make needed amendments on the earliest “which will go a long way in not only facilitating exercise of right of overseas electors but also further boosting image of the country internationally.” A invoice to increase the ability of proxy voting to abroad Indians had lapsed following the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha in 2019.
The invoice had proposed that abroad Indians, who’re entitled to vote in India, can appoint a proxy voter to forged the poll on their behalf. An knowledgeable committee of the Election Commission, engaged on the problem, had in 2015 forwarded the authorized framework to the Law Ministry to amend the electoral legal guidelines to permit the abroad Indians to make use of proxy voting.
The invoice mentioned the required provision of coming to India to forged poll triggered hardship for abroad electors.
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