Govt accepts postal ballot, proxy voting for NRIs

The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that it has accepted the Election Commission’s recommendation for providing e-postal ballot and proxy voting option to NRIs in order to help exercise their franchise in legislative and Parliamentary elections.

Additional Solicitor General P S Narsimha, appearing for the Centre, submitted before a bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice A K Sikri that the government would implement in letter and spirit the report of the 12-member poll panel, which include Deputy Election Commissioners Vinod Zutsi, Sudhir Tripathi and Umesh Sinha, among others.

“The committee is of the view that e-postal ballot, where blank postal ballot is transferred electronically to NRI, and returned by post by NRI can be considered to be employed after proofing, validation of the process and pilot implementation in one or two constituencies in elections to the legislative Assemblies and then scale up to more Assembly elections and finally Parliamentary elections,” the recommendation stated.