The Election Commission had mentioned the economic, legal and administrative challenges in the concept note released last month on remote voting. After the opposition of 16 parties including the Congress, the path of the Election Commission on remote voting has become more difficult. Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of 9 states are to be held this year. Next year there will be general elections to the Lok Sabha and several state assemblies. The voter turnout in the last general elections was 67.4 per cent. Voting can increase significantly if the RVM system is implemented. It is necessary to understand 10 important aspects of this revolutionary initiative to increase public participation in democracy:
1. Journey from Ballot Paper to EVM
The first general elections were held in 1952. After that, till 1999, people used to cast their vote by stamping the ballot paper in the country. After that, the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was introduced, for which changes were also made in the law. After a long court battle, the controversy over EVMs has reduced considerably. After the debate on remote voting, now BSP supremo Mayawati has again opened the box of controversies on EVMs.
2. Remote Voting and E-Voting
Many people are considering the new system of remote voting as e-voting. E-voting started in the local bodies of Gujarat from 2010. But the system of Remote Voting (RVM) is an extension of EVM itself. There has been talk for a long time about giving voting rights to NRIs living abroad outside India. There is a provision for online voting in countries like America, Britain, Australia, Canada and Germany. But it is wrong to consider remote voting as e-voting.
3. Changes will have to be made in many laws
The Commission has held discussions with leaders of national and regional parties on the prototype of RVM. According to their suggestions, if the matter progresses, then many laws will have to be changed to implement RVM. Changes will have to be made in many laws like the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951, the Electoral Registration Rules 1960 and the Election Conduct Rules 1961. The most controversy will be regarding the change in Section-19 and 20 of RP Act 1950. According to this, only the name of the person living in the constituency should be included in the voter list. But if remote voting is implemented, the picture of electoral laws will change.
4. Legal Definition of Overseas Voter and Remote Voting
The commission has estimated around 45 crore migrant people as per the 2011 census. This is one third of the total population. In the last elections, there were about 91.20 crore registered voters in the country. That is why opposition parties have demanded to clarify the definition of migrant voter and remote voting. How will such voters be identified? For how long will a person who has been out of residence be eligible to vote in an election with an RVM? If there is no coordination between the remote areas and the electoral states, the entire election itself can come under controversy.
5. Registration of Overseas Voters
Before the elections, an overseas voter has to inform the Returning Officer (RO) to avail the facility of voting outside his home town. After the verification of the officials of the commission, the voter will get the facility of voting while staying away. Migrant voters will have the facility to go to the polling booth set up by the Election Commission and vote using RVM.
6. VVPAT slip will also be available in RVM
On the lines of EVM, in RVM also the migrant voters will cast their vote by pressing the button. The overseas electors shall exercise their choice on the Balloting Unit and the vote will be recorded in the Remote Control Unit along with State Code, Constituency and Candidate Number. On casting the vote, the overseas voters will get a slip with the name of the candidate and the election symbol along with the serial number and code of the constituency. With this, people will be able to get proof of casting their correct votes.
7. Election code of conduct
Elections are being held elsewhere and the voter is in another state. In such a situation, it will be difficult to implement the model code of conduct in other states. There is also doubt on the appointment of polling agents to identify remote voters in other states. One RVM machine can poll for 72 constituencies simultaneously. Migrants reside in all the states of the country, so in the elections of any state, the whole country will come under the purview of the election code of conduct.
8. Difference between Postal Ballot and RVM
In the era of EVMs, there is facility of postal ballot for soldiers, government employees involved in elections and senior citizens, on which there is not much controversy. In remote voting, it will be challenging to send data of voters’ details from one state to another. In remote voting, if the location of voters and the number of booths are made public, the secrecy of voting can be violated.
9. Fear of manufacturing and hacking from government companies
The Commission has prepared the RVM machine with the help of IIT Madras. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) have designed the prototype of RVM which has been presented to the leaders. After the order of the Supreme Court in 2015, after a long exercise, the commission selected an option for RVM in 2021 which does not run on the Internet. That’s why it is difficult to hack.
10. A web of court disputes when there is no agreement
In hilly states like Uttarakhand, people have migrated to other states on a large scale. If such people get the facility of RVM, the arithmetic of elections of parties in the state can change. Due to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, people have been displaced on a large scale. The facility of RVM for such people will reinforce their constitutional right to vote. If the political parties do not get the consent in the January 16 meeting, it may be difficult to change the law in this regard in the Parliament. Regarding RVM, the Election Commission (ECI) should answer the questions with transparency and also solve the doubts. This can prevent RVM from getting caught in the web of court disputes.
Virag GuptaAdvocate, Supreme Court
The author is a Supreme Court lawyer and an expert in the Constitution and cyber law. Along with regular writing in national newspapers and magazines, he is also a regular part of TV debates. Many of his books related to law, literature, history and children have been published. Has been honored on Constitution Day by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for writing law continuously for the last 6 years. Twitter- @viraggupta.
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