A recent data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) revealed that overseas Indians, who were eligible to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections, did not turn up to vote in person this year citing reasons such as travel expenditure, job constraints, and education, among other practical things.

With nearly 1.2 lakh non-resident Indian (NRI) voters registering as electors, only a small section of them returned to India to cast the ballot.

The ECI describes NRIs as overseas electors. As per the current electoral law, registered NRI voters need to appear in person at their respective Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies to cast a vote. Their original passport should be produced as proof of identity.

The 16th Lok Sabha passed a bill to allow proxy voting rights to eligible overseas Indians, in August 2018. However, the bill did not make it to the Rajya Sabha. The ECI proposed to the Union Law Ministry, in 2020, to extend the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System facility to eligible overseas Indian voters. Since this procedure required changes to election rules, the government has not taken it up till now.

In 2024, of 1,19,374 registered overseas electors, just 2,958 of them came down to India to vote, which included 2,670 from Kerala. Of the total registrations, 89,839 were from Kerala.

In Gujarat, only two persons of 885 overseas electors turned up, while in Maharashtra, just 17 of 5,097 NRI voters turned up. Though 7,927 NRI electors had registered in Andhra Pradesh, only 195 flew down to vote.

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Assam and Bihar saw zero turnout. – editor@nrifocus.com