Recently in August, 2018, Lower house of Indian Constituency Lok Sabha has passed bill to extend the facility of ‘proxy voting‘ to overseas Indians or NRI (non resident Indians), on the lines of service voters. Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2017 for consideration and passage, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the provision would help non-resident Indians (NRIs) to participate in the electoral process.

The bill proposed that overseas Indians, who are entitled to vote in India, could now appoint a proxy voter to cast their votes through Proxy Voting reported ET.

According to estimates of Ministry of External Affairs, there are about 3.10 crore NRIs living in different countries across the world out of which, as per another ET report of August 2017, only 24,000 overseas Indians, who are entitled to cast their ballot in India, have registered themselves as voters. Out of this number again, only 10,000 to 12,000 NRIs have voted because they do not want to spend their money to come to India and exercise their franchise.

As per Representation of the People’s Act of 1950, there was no provision for NRIs till the year 2010 to apply for their Voters’ ID Card outside India but after amendment, NRIs were incorporated and allowed to apply for their Voter’s ID card outside of India.

Definition of Overseas Voters or NRI Electors

A citizen of India, who is away from India due to overseas employment, foreign education etc. and the person has not acquired citizenship of his residing or any other country are known as Overseas Voters. Such overseas voters are eligible to be registered as a voter in India and can apply for the same either online or offline mode for the Voter ID Card. The address should be same as mentioned in their Indian passport.

Requirements for NRI Voter ID Card

Following are the requirements to apply for NRI voter ID card online or offline-

1. Your citizenship should be Indian and you should not be a citizen in the country you reside.
2. Age attained should be at least 18 years.
3. Recent photograph.
4. Valid Indian passport.
5. The passport page containing the identity and address details needs to be attested by a competent officer of the Indian Mission in the country of residence.
6. The name enrolled in the constituency will be as mentioned in your passport, i.e. Passport should be mentioned your Indian residence/home address.
7. Overseas status can be education, business, employment, family and so on.

Steps to Register Online For NRI Voter ID Card

Here are the steps to be followed to apply for the NRI Voter ID Card online, alternatively you can fill the form in person at the Electoral Registration Officer / Assistant ERO of the constituency in offline mode. In this case, you need to produce the original passport in front of the officer-in-charge for verification.

1. Visit National Voters’ Services Portal or ECI Voters site.
2. Click on Apply online for registration of overseas voter (or for NRI Voter ID Card) Form 6A. You can refer the article on add Voter ID details online.
3. Select language from the drop down, you can select Hindi, English or Malayalam.
4. Application for inclusion of name in electoral roll by an overseas elector form opens which is addressed to “Electoral Registration Officer“
5. Select State, District and Assembly/Parliamentary Constituency name from the respective drop down.
6. Give particulars in support of your claim for inclusion in the electoral roll such as Name, Surname, Name of Relative, Last name of relative, Relation and Date of birth.
7. In section (f) of form, give place of birth details such as State, District, Village/Town.
8. In section (g), (h) and (i) give your Gender, email address and mobile number respectively.
9. In section (j), give place of present ordinary Residence in India (Full address as given in the passport).
10. In section (k), give your passport details such as Passport Number, Place of issue of current Indian passport, Date of Issue of current Indian passport, Date of expiry of current Indian passport etc.
11. In section (l), give details of Visa of the Country of current residence such as Visa Number, Type of Visa (Single Entry/Multiple Entry/Tourist/Work Visa), Date of issue of Visa, Date of expiry of Visa, Name of the Issuing Authority etc.
12. Fill section 2 completely.
13. Upload supporting documents such as your recent photograph and valid pages of passport.
14. Finally submit your declaration by giving place and captcha code.
15. Any false declaration should not be given as it is punishable under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950).
16. Click on Submit button to submit the application for the NRI Voter ID Card.

Post Form 6A Submission Process for NRI Voter ID Card

• Booth Level Officer shall make a visit to your given home address for the verification of address and documents submitted.
• If the relative mentioned in the form is not available, then the documents will be sent for verification to the concerned Indian Mission.
• Decision of the ERO will be communicated to you by post on the address and SMS on the mobile number given in Form 6A.
• Name of overseas elector is included in a separate section for “Overseas Electors” which is the last section of the roll of each polling station area
• You can check your name, age and address on Voter List Online in India or check your name on electoral roll online.
• If you found any mistake or need to do Correction in Voter ID card, so you can fill Form 8 online in the ECI Voters site.
• If you want to Change address in Voter ID Card then you will need to fill Form 8A.

Current Process for NRI Electors to Vote after attaining NRI Voter ID Card

As per the Election Commission of India, an overseas elector is not issued an EPIC rather it will be allowed to vote in person at the polling station on producing one’s original passport. However, e- postal ballots shall soon be provided to NRI Voters.

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