The Centre on Tuesday agreed to convene an all-party meeting to discuss its proposal for giving NRIs the right to exercise their franchise by e-postal ballots or through proxy voting.
law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda accepted the demand of the Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha that their views should be taken into consideration while enacting a legislation to grant voting rights to NRIs and domestic migrant labour.
Replying to a calling attention motion moved by leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, the law Minister made it clear that the Government was acting on the Election Commission report regarding voting rights of over one crore NRIs and not as directed by the Supreme Court.
During the debate, members of the Opposition charged the Government with taking up the matter against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s directions, Azad saying they were not opposed to voting rights for NRIs but the way the Government has moved the proposal without discussing it with the political parties.
The Minister said the report had recommended the options of the e-postal ballot system and proxy voting and the Government had submitted before the Supreme Court accepting the recommendations.
To ensure that secrecy and methodology is maintained, Gowda said “e-postal and postal ballot voting methodologies are being worked out for the voting rights of the NRIs”.
Azad said they were not opposed to voting rights for NRIs through e-postal ballots or by proxy voting, but the way the Government has moved the proposal without holding discussion with the political parties.
He voiced concern over casting of votes through e-postal ballots, saying they are prone to hacking and cited the recent example of US President Barack Obama’s e-mail account being hacked.
Azad also accused the Government of adopting a discriminatory apprach in granting voting rights to NRIs through e-postal ballots but ignoring the rights of migrant workers.
D Raja (CPI) described as “risky” the proposal to vote through e-postal ballots and through proxy voting. Demanding an all-party meeting to discuss the proposal, he sought to know whether arrangements would be made in embassies abroad for NRIs to cast their votes. Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) rejected the Government proposal and charged it of doing favours to the NRI community.