The Indian Union Cabinet is set to decide about introducing a fresh bill in the current Parliament session to give NRIs voting rights through proxies.
A similar bill had lapsed following the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month.
Currently, overseas Indians can only cast their votes from the constituencies where they are registered. The new Bill aims to give them the option of proxy voting i.e. being able to vote without having to fly back to India.
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According to estimates of the Ministry of External Affairs, there are about 3.10 crore NRIs living in different countries across the world. Unofficial data from the Election Commission of India shows that only about 10,000-12,000 overseas voters have exercised their franchise as they are unable to or do not want to fly back to India to cast their vote.
