In what could constitute a major change in the way elections are conducted in India, sources have stated that the Union government might be considering the introduction of a bill in the Parliament allowing proxy voting to NRIs. A similar bill had lapsed after the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. The bill proposes that Indians living abroad having a right to vote in India can appoint a proxy in order to cast the ballot on their behalf. The NRI community constitutes a large number of Indians who have been hitherto denied voting rights even though their participation in Indian electoral discourse has increased manifold in the last few years.
A similar bill had been passed by the previous Lok Sabha in the month of August last year. The Opposition had raised concerns about the proposal and misuse of proxy voting. However, Union Law Minister for Law and Justice had allayed all such concerns and had asked the Opposition MPs not to doubt the judgment of the NRIs. While introducing the bill, Prasad had said that many NRIs had complained about the inability to vote during elections, and therefore the government decided to allow proxy voting for them. He had also stated that all the concerns raised by the Opposition MPs could be addressed by framing rules for proxy voting. However, the bill lapsed after it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha and the dissolution of the previous Lok Sabha.
As of now, only service personnel have the option of proxy voting. NRIs living abroad only have the choice of casting votes in the constituencies in which they are registered but there is no provision for proxy voting. As per an estimate of the Ministry of External Affairs, there are about 3.10 crore Indians living abroad, which constitutes a sizeable chunk of voters. Election Commission data shows that only 10,000 to 12,000 overseas voters have exercised their right to vote clearly suggesting a very low turnout among the NRIs having voting rights in India.
Another provision in the bill proposes to replace the term ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’ in the case of service personnel. Currently, an army officer’s wife is entitled to be enrolled as a service personnel voter but a woman army officer’s husband is not entitled to be enrolled as a service voter. This absurdity arose due to the usage of the term ‘wife’. This far-reaching bill rectifies the absurdity by replacing the term ‘wife’ with spouse achieving a gender-neutral provision. As of now, members of the armed forces, central armed police forces, State police personnel posted outside their states and employees of the centre posted outside India are eligible to be registered as service personnel voters.
The cabinet was supposed to take up this bill for discussion on Monday, however the same could not be taken up. This bill assisting NRIs to participate in the electoral process is going to be a landmark reform and will go a long way in strengthening democracy. The fact remains that the right to vote is a constitutional right. It accrues to every Indian, irrespective of whether they live in India or abroad. As such, it is the duty of the State to assist the citizens in the exercise of their franchise. Since it is a constitutional right of every Indian citizen, the State should guard it not only passively but also actively.