CPI(M) cries foul over proposal of postal voting rights to NRIs, seeks all-party meeting

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday expressed shock at the Election Commission of India's purported proposal to give postal voting rights to NRIs. Suggesting a more effective voting system for Indians living overseas, he recommended the setting up of polling booths at India's embassies and other facilities in different foreign countries. In a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, he pointed out that the current proposal forwarded to the Law Ministry did not require the approval of Parliament but a mere amendment to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. It is pertinent to note that legislation pertaining to proxy voting for NRIs lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. 

In the letter, Yechury noted, "Our sense of shock flows from the blatant departure from the conventional modus operandi adopted by the Election Commission of consultations with political parties before finalising issues of such major import. It was in 2014 that the EC had first taken up the proposal to permit NRI voters to cast their votes. The Commission had at that point of time held an all-party consultation to discuss the possible methods to actualise a full proof mechanism to ensure a ‘free and fair’ poll so far as the NRI voters are concerned." 

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CPI(M) urges CEC to summon an all-party meeting

According to Yechury, dispatching the ballot paper electronically is fraught with the "challenge of manipulation". Moreover, he questioned the lack of clarity on whether the voter will return the ballot paper himself through ordinary post or drop it off at the Indian Embassy, which may then segregate the envelopes constituency-wise. The CPI(M) general secretary contended that the protection of secrecy and integrity of the ballot was a complex challenge. Thereafter, he urged the ECI to immediately convene an all-party meeting to deliberate the issues involved in the "effective" extension of voting rights to NRIs at the earliest. The CPI(M)'s reaction comes ahead of the Assembly polls in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal. 

"The dispatch of the marked out ballot through the election authority at the constituency level is another complex challenge. Clearly, the issue is how to protect the secrecy and integrity of the ballot which will be received by the individual elector. The fact that these voters are working in conditions which are not immune from external influences including their foreign employers is the most worrying factor," the letter added. 

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