THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:An all-party meeting held on Thursday, to decide a suitable mode of voting for Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs) in the upcoming local body polls, rejected the proposal of proxy voting, but was more or less in favour of introducing online voting.
However, the CPM was of the view that its concerns over certain “technical aspects” of online voting should be addressed first before it was introduced. The party agreed to announce its final decision on online voting on July 15. The CPM was also in favour of granting voting rights to persons lodged as under-trials in various jails.
All the parties summarily rejected the proposal of proxy voting as they felt that it would lead to large-scale misuse.
The meeting was convened in the wake of numerous complaints from NRKs that the current rules, which allowed them to vote only if they were physically present at the polling booth, was not convenient.
“Though NRKs could vote in the previous Assembly election, their turnout was as low as two per cent,” Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said.