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What's the article about?
- It talks about the ECI’s plan to give the option of remote voting to the domestic migrants.
Relevance:
- GS2: Salient Features of the Representation of People’s Act; Elections;
- Prelims
Context:
- As per the 2011 census, there are nearly 45.36 crore migrants in India (both intra and inter state) – amounting to approximately 37 per cent of the country’s population.
- This number is nearly doubled now.
- Many of these migrants are unable to vote because they are unable to travel back to their home constituencies on the day of polling.
- Thus they miss their constitutional right to vote.
- In order to avoid this in upcoming elections, the ECI decided to introduce remote voting for domestic migrants.
- The ECI has developed a prototype for a Multi-Constituency Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM) that can handle multiple constituencies from a single remote polling booth.
Voters in India can vote via three methods:
- In-person voting
- Postal ballot
- Proxy voting
Why do migrants not exercise their right to vote?
- High travelling costs
- Employment issues – no leaves, salary deductions, etc
- Educational issues – ongoing lectures, exams, et
Analysis:
- Better opportunities in terms of employment, living standards and education are the main reasons for internal migration.
- To cast their votes on the election day, migrants need to take a leave for 3-4 days. This often endangers their work security.
- In such a situation migrants give more preference to economic considerations than to exercise their political rights.
- Thus, anything that advances their rights must be welcomed.
- The ECI proposes to have remote voting for migrants as early as this year.
- A hurried move will only do more damage to the integrity of the electoral process, which many fear is eroding, and for valid reasons.
Way Forward:
- In an era of unprecedented human mobility, the idea of portable voting rights is worth considering, but it will have far-reaching ramifications that should be accounted for.
