Indian expats in UAE lose hope as no postal ballots in sight

Dubai - As of now, overseas Indians are free to cast their votes in constituencies they are registered in.

Eligible overseas Indian voters will not get the facility of postal ballots in the five assembly elections to be held in March and April as the government wants the Election Commission (EC) to consult various stakeholders before the facility is rolled out.

Responding to a question on whether the facility of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) would be extended to overseas voters in the assembly elections to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, chief election commissioner Sunil Arora replied in the negative.

“As far as NRI voters are concerned, the commission (EC) had sent a very empathetic and very positive note to the law ministry over a month-and-a-half back over finding a way out for that. The law ministry referred it to the Ministry of External Affairs. I spoke to the foreign secretary also. They have responded in 
detail and they have said we should have a broad-spectrum meeting of the stakeholders,” Arora said. He said the meeting could take place within a month.

Arora was addressing a Press conference to announce the dates of elections to the five 
assemblies.

As of now, overseas Indians are free to cast their votes in constituencies they are registered in.

Meanwhile, NRIs in the UAE said they have lost all hopes that the postal ballot will ever become a reality.

Arunkumar Moothat, an Abu Dhabi-based operations manager, said: “I have been waiting for the good news for a long time now. My friends are all disappointed. There seems to be some political agenda.”

He added: “Either the ruling party or the opposition, or maybe both, aren’t showing any interest in this regard. Once NRIs get voting rights, then solving our problems becomes a responsibility and a major headache. This may be the reason for this indefinite delay.”