YesDespite regional variations in demographic trends and economic opportunities, India has a high rate of out-migration, which doubled in the 2001–2011 census decade. Migrants often see their political and economic rights compromised at their place of origin and residence. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has now proposed a mechanism To facilitate remote voting for domestic expatriates. Remote Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) Prototype A single, remote polling station can be used for 72 constituencies simultaneously. ECI has invited political parties for a demonstration of the prototype on 16 January. A concept note by the Commission takes into account the legal, operational, administrative and technical challenges. Voter participation is comparatively high in India; Yet, in 2019, one in three voters did not turn up. According to the Economic Survey of 2017, there are around 140 million internal migrants in the country, and they have to cross many hurdles to be able to vote. Anything that advances their rights should be welcomed. But the rash move will only further damage the integrity of the electoral process, which many fear, and for valid reasons. The recent conduct of the ECI, including the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, has been less than reassuring.
The ECI earlier this year proposed remote voting for expatriates. While the allegations of fraud in the current, single-electoral, non-networked EVMs have no technical basis, public confidence has never been as low as it is today. Public confidence is the only strength of any electoral process. With EVMs, there is no way for the voter to see whether the vote has been cast or not. The ECI’s ambitious plan comes against this backdrop of public skepticism about its impartiality and less justifiably about the credibility of EVMs. The proposed plan will add more questions to the mix, including some fundamental questions such as those about the relationship between citizenship and territoriality. In an age of unprecedented human mobility, the idea of portable voting rights is worth considering, but will have far-reaching implications that must be accounted for. Defining a migrant who is eligible to vote remotely is going to be contentious – for example, when does a migrant become a resident in some place? Even the ECI had in the past expressed doubts about the practicality of remote voting rights for expatriates. Meanwhile, there is also an active demand for voting rights for NRIs. High turnout is worth striving for, but not without adequate safeguards.
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