Latest status of NRI voting rights in India

This issue seems to confuse many people of Indian origin residing outside India. The position as on 11th January 2011 is as follows:

The Indian law allows voting only by Indian citizens. Citizens who are abroad for more than six months are also struck off the electoral rolls.

People of Indian origin abroad other than NRIs [i.e. PIOs / OICs] cannot be given Indian voting rights as they are not Indian citizens.

NRIs are Indian citizens and because they are abroad for an indefinite period, they can’t vote in Indian elections. The government is trying to meet their demand for voting in India.

Prime Minister said at the 9th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas at New Delhi in January 2011: “Since we met last year, we have enacted a law which has accorded Non-Resident citizens the right to register themselves in the electoral rolls of their constituencies. Our government is framing appropriate procedures to give effect to this new legal provision which will give NRIs their legitimate right to participate in the country’s electoral processes.”

What the PM was referring to is the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill, 2010 that enables NRIs to vote in Indian elections.

A number of meetings between the Election Commission and the concerned Ministries have taken place but the following issues have not been resolved so far:

• EC feels that each NRI voter must be physically verified before his/her name is put in the voting list. But physical verification of millions of NRIs without a verification machinery abroad will not be feasible. Embassies are just not capable to take on such a gigantic task.
• As per the 2010 amendment, an NRI can exercise the franchise only if he/she is present in the constituency on the polling day. Without online voting or a facility in the embassy, the voting right is not likely to be exercised by most of the NRI voters.