Thiruvananthapuram: Non-resident Indians (NRIs) will not be able to cast their vote through electronic-ballots during the coming local body elections.
The state election commission has conveyed its inability to arrange the online voting facility for the upcoming election on the ground of technical and legal reasons.
The state cabinet last week had decided to recommend to the state Election Commission to take steps to provide online voting to Non-Resident Keralites (NRK)s.
The Supreme Court had earlier asked the government to take steps for implementation of e-voting by NRIs after being told that the government has accepted the poll panel's recommendation to this effect.
A 12-member committee led by Vinod Zutshi, Deputy Election Commissioner, had proposed for ‘Exploring Feasibility of Alternative Options for Voting by Overseas Electors’. In the report, the committee had said it was of the view that e-postal ballot, where blank postal ballot is transferred electronically to NRIs and returned by post, can be employed after validation of the process and pilot implementation in one or two constituencies.
The report further said the process can be scaled up for Parliamentary elections, if found feasible, practicable and meeting the objectives of free and fair polls.