It’s time to use tech-driven tools to allow overseas Indian voters to participate in polls: CEC Kumar
New Delhi, June 9
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar today said that time has come to use technology-driven methods such as e-postal ballots to allow eligible overseas Indian voters to participate in elections in the country.
The CEC also noted that the timely and continued delivery of credible electoral outcomes since 1952 was an important ingredient of worldwide acknowledgement of India’s comprehensive national power, especially in an era of “democratic backsliding”.
Addressing the 2022-batch Indian Foreign Service officer-trainees on the theme “India-the Mother of Democracies and Role of ECI” at the Nirvachan Sadan, Kumar talked about the common challenges being faced by election management bodies in the conduct of free and fair elections. He referred to the rising threat from fake news and deep-fakes on social media derailing the poll narratives.
According to sources, when asked about voting by overseas voters, Kumar said that the time has come when the fifth largest economy of the world invoked technology-driven methodology to facilitate eligible overseas Indian voters to participate in elections through electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETBPS).
The EC proposal to facilitate ETPBS for overseas Indian voters is under discussions with the Ministry of External Affairs to “iron out” logistical challenges involved in its implementation, the government had informed Rajya Sabha in March this year.
The total number of overseas electors as on January 1 this year stood at over 1.15 lakh.
Kumar also gave an overview of the complexity of numbers and sophistication of the processes for conducting elections in the world’s largest democracy. More than 10 lakh polling stations and over one crore polling officials ensure an inclusive, accessible, participative and tech-driven election, he added.
