Election Commission to explore remote voting 

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Tuesday said it will start exploring possibilities of remote voting on a pilot basis.

The commission also said a committee would be appointed to examine issues of migrant voters, which will also seek input from political parties.

"Voters migrate from the place of their registration to cities and other places for education, employment and other purposes. It becomes difficult for them to return to their registered polling stations to cast their vote. The Commission felt that time has come to explore possibilities of remote voting, maybe on a pilot basis," the statement said.

“A committee would be set up to examine the issues of migrant voters. Given that voters and political parties are the primary stakeholders, more comprehensive consultation with all stakeholders, including parties, would be started after that,” it added.

The EC has been thinking about remote voting over the last few years.

The statement of the election commission came days after the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar undertook an hours-long trek to some of Uttarakhand’s most remote polling booths in Chamoli district in the recent assembly polls to assess challenges faced by election officials. 

He had visited Dumak and Kalgoth and interacted with both villagers and polling parties there.

The poll panel also announced doubling the remuneration of polling officials going to such booths three days before voting day.

It was also decided at a meeting to develop special water and shockproof, extra protective backpacks or cases to carry EVM-VVPATs and safeguard the machines provided to all such teams to aid hands-free movement in rugged terrain.

The remuneration for polling officials used to be a uniform per diem amount for all alike.

Chief Electoral Officers of the states and Union Territories shall specifically notify such polling stations for enhanced remuneration during the election, the statement said.