Election Commission introduces 'remote voting' for migrant workers

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Thursday said it has developed a prototype of the remote electronic voting machine for domestic migrant voters.
The EC has developed a Multi-Constituency EVM prototype that allows remote voting and invited political parties for demonstrating it.
The EC will hold a demonstration of the new EVM prototype — with a reworked ballot unit that allows a voter registered in 72 constituencies to vote from a single machine — for political parties on January 16.
The multi-constituency EVM will be a standalone machine with no connectivity.
"The migration based disenfranchisement is indeed not an option in the age of technological advancement. The voter turnout in General Elections 2019 was 67.4 per cent and the Election Commission of India is concerned about the issue of over 30 crore electors not exercising their franchise and also differential voter turnout in various states/UTs," the commission said.
The ECI said that there are several reasons for a voter not opting to register in a new place of residence, thus missing out on exercising the right to vote.
"Inability to vote due to internal migration (domestic migrants) is one of the prominent reasons to be addressed to improve voter turnout and ensure participative elections. Although there is no central database available for migration within the country, the analysis of available data in public domain points to work, marriage and education related migration as important components of domestic migration," it said.
(With agency inputs)