Postal ballots for NRI’s soon – Will PM Modi assure the NRI’s on Sunday ?

PBD 2017 has thrown up several serious issues relating to the NRI’s . The event has become a platform for the NRI’s to address these them. While the employment concerns of thousands of NRI’s working in the Gulf region is one , another issue on the right to participate in the Indian democracy is being debated on the sidelines.

With the Supreme Court having recently asked the Centre about the status of the proposal to allow 25 million Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) across the world to participate in Indian elections through e-vote the topic is iportant. It maybe recalled that a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur in November this year had enquired about the latest stand of the union government.

While the Centre in principle has accepted the Election Commission’s (EC) proposal in this regard and has formulated a draft bill to get the Representation of People Act 1951 amended not much has progressed on the ground. Speaking to NewsBasics , Dnyaneshwar Secretary (OIA) ,” The MEA is not directly involved with except being consulted on the modalities. The final decision on this is to be taken by the government of India and we can only support the implementation of registering as NRI voters” .

The NRI diaspora is hopeful that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi , who has had the maximum interaction with the Indian diaspora is seized of the matter. Many however believe that the Prime Minister on Sunday may highlight the long pending issue in his address.
It is important to note that two NRIs – NagenderChindam, Chairman of the UK-based Pravasi Bharat and Shamsheer V P, an NRI from Kerala had in 2013 and 2014 respectively had filed two public interest litigations in the apex court.

The Supreme court order in November 2016 read, “Senior counsel appearing for the Union of India seeks time to take instructions whether any amendment to the Representation of People Act, 1950 and 1951 is proposed in terms of the recommendations received from the Election Commission in so far as the Notification of NRI’s as special voters is concerned, if so, the status of such process may be informed within 8 weeks”. Once e-vote is allowed, NRIs will not have to fly home to vote.