Set process for online vote registration: House panel

New Delhi : An estimated 3 million defence personnel and their family members could not exercise their democratic right to vote due to the cumbersome procedure involved in proxy and postal voting, mainly on account of postal delays, a parliamentary committee has said.
The Standing Committee on Defence, in its report submitted recently, has sought finalisation of standing operating procedure for online registration and one way e-movement of postal ballot for effective implementation of the system. It stressed the need to reduce the size of e-postal ballot files by the Election Commission to permit easy downloading even where internet speeds are low.
The report emphasised on the need to provide “unique service numbers” to armed service voters after successful registration. “The committee has desired that immediate steps should be taken to remove the above bottlenecks and they may be informed accordingly,” it said.
The Election Commission and the Defence Ministry have also been asked to undertake a study of the electoral practices prevalent in countries where internet voting or chip-based identity card voting system exists. The countries mentioned by the Committee include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, France, Netherlands, UK, USA, Switzerland and Venezuela among others. “The best practices followed in this regard need to be identified and developed to suit the requirements of Indian election process,” it said.