NEW DELHI: With nine Assembly elections lined up this year, the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s new proposal of Remote Voting Machines (RVM) to allow domestic migrant workers to cast vote – has kicked up a debate. Though a consensus seems elusive on the vexed issue as several opposition parties are up in arms against the proposal, the poll body maintains that it’s a ‘work in progress’.
With the Opposition parties flagging several concerns regarding the new proposal, the ECI even had to put off the demonstration of the prototype of the machine in a recent all-party meeting, which was attended by representatives of at least 70 political parties.The Commission has asked political parties to submit their views by February 28.
The issue of migrant voting is a long pending one and it’s a welcome move, says Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi. However, he stresses that technology should be foolproof and that reaching a consensus with all political parties is imperative. “When we introduced VVPAT in 2010, we had called an all-party meeting for consensus. It is a welcome step that EC is talking about consensus and a pilot project to facilitate RVM, However, it is going to be an arduous task,” he told this paper.
According to the proposal, the RVM will be a modified version of the time-tested model of the EVMs to enable voting at remote polling stations. The EVM can handle up to 72 constituencies from a single remote polling booth. Special remote polling booths would be set up in different states when elections are held in the home state of migrant workers.The remote voter can register by applying online or offline with the Returning Officer of the home constituency.
Citing various logistical and administrative challenges of the proposed machine, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha told this newspaper that ECI put off the demonstration of the RVM after listening to the plethora of concerns raised by Opposition parties. “EC appeared to be concerned about 30 crore people not voting. The figure of 30 crores was computed on the basis of approx 67 percent of people who voted in the last election. This number includes everyone, not necessarily migrants. The government has no clear data on migrants,” the RJD MP said.