The Election Commission of India has prepared a Remote Voting System (RVM) for voters living away from home. With the help of RVM, now a voter living away from home, in another city and state will be able to cast his vote in the Assembly or Lok Sabha elections. That means he will not have to come to his house to vote. The commission will give a live demonstration of this RVM to all political parties on 16th January.
(1/n)ECI ready to pilot remote voting for domestic migrants; migrant voter need not travel back to home state to vote; ECI develops prototype Multi-Constituency Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM); invites political parties for demonstration of prototype RVM.
— Spokesperson ECI (@SpokespersonECI) December 29, 2022
People working in other states, migrant laborers will be able to use RVM. This will not mean that they will be able to vote sitting at home. To take advantage of this facility of the Commission, one has to reach the remote voting spot on the day of voting. According to estimates, there are 45 crore people in the country who have left their homes and cities and are living in other states.
The commission noted that the voter turnout in the 2019 general election was 67.4%. More than 30 crore voters did not exercise their franchise. This is what is bothering me. The commission said, “Voters are not able to register and vote due to various reasons when they move to a new place. The inability of domestic migrants to vote was a matter of concern. Hence, the RVM plan was formulated.”
Views of political parties have also been sought on legal, administrative and technical challenges before its implementation. According to a statement, the poll panel has only issued a concept note on remote voting.
The Commission will show this RVM system to political parties on 16 January. It will proceed on the process of implementation taking suggestions into consideration. Apart from Jammu and Kashmir, assembly elections are to be held in 9 states of the country in 2023. Lok Sabha elections will also be held in 2024. The states where elections are held include Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana and Rajasthan. The implementation of the RVM system depends on the opinion of the demos, political parties and people involved in the election process.