Are you an Overseas Indian willing to Vote in Indian Elections? Here is something for you
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 5, 2016
The Election Commission of India has launched a dedicated portal to assess the levels of awareness among overseas Indian voters. The portal is running a survey and an online competition with the theme ‘Every Indian Vote Counts’
As Factly reported earlier, the government has now accepted the idea of extending voting rights to NRIs and Indian Citizens living abroad. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has now launched an online survey and a competition to assess the level of awareness among Overseas Indian voters. According to the ECI, only around 16000 are registered on the electoral roll as Overseas Indian electors though there are about 11.4 million NRIs across the world.
A Survey to assess the levels of awareness among Overseas Indians
The ECI has launched a dedicated portal ‘Every Indian Vote Counts’ both for the survey and a competition for the Overseas Indians who are willing to vote in Indian elections. The objective of the survey is to study and determine the registration and participation rates among overseas electors. The survey is launched by the ECI in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
The ECI believes that the survey will help in identifying information gaps and also in finding the preferred methods of voting for NRIs.
What does the Survey contain?
The survey has various questions on the present status of the NRIs along with their awareness of the voting laws like the minimum age for voting, the form in which the voter registration is to be done among other things. The survey also gathers information on the current place of residence of the NRI.
The survey also asks NRIs to rank the various options for voting based on their preference. This information will be used to come up with the right option for voting. There will be both daily & fortnightly prizes for those taking part in the survey. The winners will be selected based on the ‘Democracy Points’ accumulated by a person. Democracy Points can be won by inviting friends to take the survey. One can also register as a voter towards the end of the survey.
Win an opportunity to be honored by the ECI on National Voter’s Day
Apart from the survey, ECI has also launched an online competition, based upon the theme of ‘Every Indian Vote Counts’, to crowdsource creative ideas from overseas Indians holding Indian passports. The competition is open in the following categories
Under the competition, participants can upload their original entries in the various categories. Winners in these categories will win a round trip to India on National Voters’ Day and be honored by the Election Commission of India.
The survey will be open in both November & December 2016 while the online Competition will run through the month of November.