Govt to study feasibility of allowing domestic migrants

The feasibility of granting domestic migrant workers alternative voting facility along the lines of overseas Indians and service voters will be considered by an inter-ministerial group.
A draft Law Ministry Cabinet note on amending one section each of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951, to allow overseas Indians and service voters to vote via electronic means has been referred to a group of ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
While referring the matter to the GoM, the Prime Minister's Office also asked it to examine the feasibility of granting similar rights to domestic migrant workers, sources said.

Besides Jaitley, Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are some of the other members of the panel.
The proposal to grant voting rights via electronic means to overseas Indians is based on a legal framework drawn up by a panel consisting of officials from Election Commission, the Law Ministry and External Affairs Ministry.
The government had later decided to include service voters in the category.

In Rajya Sabha recently, several members had slammed the government for ignoring migrant workers while looking to grant alternative voting facility to overseas Indians.

But Election Commission sources said today that granting similar rights to migrant workers was a difficult task.
They said that while the Commission is yet to firm up its views on the issue, there are logistical and and administrative problems given the number of such voters.
"The EC is liberal in registering new voters. If you have come to say Delhi to work from UP, then you can register here as a voter... There are several such issues like procedural difficulties and a committee (of EC) is examining the matter," a senior official said.