Why are we talking about NRI Voting Rights now?

A Bill to amend Section 20 of The Representation of the People Act, 1950 has been introduced in Indian Parliament (Rajya Sabha) in 2006. The Bill sought to extend voting rights to NRIs by treating them as ordinarily resident in India for voting purposes. It also sought to provide NRIs the right to contest in elections and become public representatives.

On June 10, 2010 this draft of The Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2006 was approved by the Group of Ministers (GoM), Government of India. Now, this Bill is reportedly sought to be cleared by the Union Cabinet for introduction in the forthcoming, monsoon session of the Parliament.

These are welcome steps towards providing the rights to vote and contest in elections, to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) across the world. However it requires NRIs to be physically present in their constituency on the election day. We are advocating options for absentee voting.