NRIs can now vote and contest in Elections

[Abhishek_]

NRIs can now vote and contest in Elections

The government on Thursday notified rules that allow non-resident Indians (NRIs) who fulfill certain criteria to vote in elections in India. The Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules, 2011 also allow NRIs to, by extension, stand for elections in India.



The notification fulfills one of the longest standing demands of the 11 million-plus NRI community, and is in line with Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh’s announcement at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas last year that holders of Indian passport living abroad could get the right to vote by the time of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Currently, no person can be on the voters’ list if he or she remains outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.Under the revised rules, NRIs holding Indian passports, who have not acquired or applied for citizenship of another country, and who satisfy the electoral officer of the area/locality cited as address in his passport, will be allowed to vote in elections in India.

The government has also issued a form that NRIs can fill and send to the electoral officer along with the necessary documents to be registered for voting.


As of now, the NRI voter will have to be present in the polling station on the date of polling to exercise his franchise. However, sources told The Indian Express that the government is not averse to allowing NRIs to votes electronically or by postal ballot.


The rules, read with the Representation of the People Act, also give NRIs the right to contest elections. Under the provisions of the Act, a person eligible to vote in a constituency is also eligible to contest from that constituency. “Since the new rules are silent on this count, it means that NRIs would also be allowed to contest elections,” said an Election Commission official.



The Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules, 2011

The Central Government, in consultation with the Election Commission, prepared and published the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules, 2011 on 3rd February,2011 so as to enable the Registration Officers to enrol the eligible overseas electors in the electoral rolls. The Government has also published a new Form 6A for enabling the overseas electors to make the application for inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls.



The aforesaid rules will be brought into force from the date on which the said Act shall come into force. As soon as the necessary administrative preparedness is achieved, the aforesaid Amendment Act as well as the Rules will be brought into force.



At present, the citizens of India who are not ordinarily resident in India are not entitled to get their names registered as voters in the Assembly/Parliamentary constituency. The Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010 (36 of 2010) which seeks to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1950 was therefore, enacted and published in the Gazette of India on the 22nd September, 2010 for conferring voting rights to citizens of India who are absenting from their place of ordinary residence in India owing to their employment, education or otherwise outside India (whether temporarily or not). They shall be entitled to have their names registered in the electoral roll in the Assembly/Parliamentary constituency in which their place of residence in India as mentioned in their passport is located.

PIB Press Release

 

[tallboy123]

Wat major change will this affect????

 

[Abhishek_]

Wat major change will this affect????

at this point not a whole lot. but once the electronic voting option becomes effective NRI can arguably become a significant vote bank.

 

[Evil Flare]

what they were not allowed to vote before ?

 

[DesiGuy]

HA, i would probably vote, but vote for who?

nobody is worth getting vote currently.....

 

[Abhishek_]

what they were not allowed to vote before ?

Currently, no person can be on the voters’ list if he or she remains outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.

 

[KS]

This would be a big boost for BJP/NDA as most fo the NRIs I have met favour them.

And before that allow us people (who are registered in one place, but working in another place) to vote.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Currently, no person can be on the voters’ list if he or she remains outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.

This move only gives a "de jure" ruling; which in "de facto" terms was a little different. Heretofore, a voter (NRIs included) could vote if they were physically present in the constituency where they were registered in the voter's list at the time of the concerned election. There was no way that NRIs notified the local branch of the Election Commission that they are/were residing outside the constituency/country for more than 6 months. Neither was this verifiable unless there was revision of the voter's rolls during the period of absence from the constituency of registration. So a person could vote if he just physically happened to be there in his home constituency at the appropriate time.

This move will make any worthwhile difference if the NRIs are able to vote in their country of residence away from their constituency. Which means that the Indian consulate/embassy effectively registers them as voters and then has a facility to allow them to vote at the appropriate time. This mechanism does not exist yet, and the EC has some unresolved issues about it yet.

As for voters in India who are away from their constituency at the time of polls; there is a system of postal ballot. But this is limited only to Govt. and Defence Service personnel.