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Overseas Citizens’ Right to Vote in the host country strengthens democratic participation and deepens engagement.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Indian diaspora comprises around 13.45 million non-resident Indians (NRI’s) worldwide. In a thriving democracy, every elector needs to cast their vote, enabling continued democratic participation and deep-rooted ties to their homeland. Several countries allow expatriate citizens to cast vote from their host country.
The Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2010 confers voting rights to NRI’s living abroad, allowing them to register as a voter in their Assembly or Parliamentary constituency in which their place of residence in India, as mentioned in their passport is located. But requiring overseas Indians to travel back to India to cast their votes.
But later, the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2017 proposed amending Section 60 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 to enable overseas electors to appoint a proxy to cast votes on their behalf, showing some hope. However, the proposal lapsed after failing to pass in the Rajya Sabha, leaving overseas voters with the only option of flying back to India to exercise their franchise.
Against this backdrop, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process has created growing fears among overseas voters regarding possible disenfranchisement. Reports emerging from states such as West Bengal and Kerala have sparked concerns about the deletion of names from electoral rolls.
Unlike the regular Special Summary Revision (SSR), the SIR process is procedurally different, involving door-to-door verification and scrutiny by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Since many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are unavailable for physical verification, BLOs often rely on nearby residents for validation, increasing concerns over inadvertent deletions or verification gaps.
This highlights the larger need for a robust digital verification mechanism that enables overseas electors to verify and authenticate their electoral status remotely. Even when deletion occurs, the re-enrolment process through Form 7 is not fully electronic, making the restoration of voting rights cumbersome for overseas Indians.
Strengthening digital electoral services for overseas voters would not only safeguard democratic participation but also reinforce the enduring connection between the Indian diaspora and the country’s democratic process.
By,
Dheeraj Pola,
Phoenix, USA.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.