Efforts on to allow overseas Indians to vote: CEC

The time has come to use technology-driven methods such as e-postal ballot to allow eligible overseas Indian voters to participate in elections here, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Friday.

“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,” he said.

Kumar made these remarks while 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 here.

The Election Commission’s proposal to facilitate electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETBPS) for overseas Indian voters is under discussions with the Ministry of External Affairs to “iron out” logistical challenges involved in its implementation, the government told Rajya Sabha in March this year. The total number of overseas electors as on January 1 this year stood at over 1.15 lakh.