Registration of Overseas Electors in the Voters’ Lists in India
According to the provisions of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, which came into force with effect from 10th February 2011, a person who is a citizen of India and whose name is not included in the electoral roll and who has not acquired the citizenship of any other country and is otherwise eligible to be registered as a voter and who is absenting from his/her place of ordinary residence in India owing to his/her employment, education or otherwise outside India, is eligible to be registered as a voter in the constituency in which his/her place of residence in India as mentioned in his/her passport is located. In terms of the Registration of Electors Rules, the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of the States/Union Territories issue public notifications for registration of overseas electors. These notifications may be seen on the websites of the CEOs.
Every eligible overseas elector whose place of residence in India is located in any of the States or Union Territories in India, and is desirous of registering his/her name in the electoral roll can file an application for the purpose in the prescribed Form-6A to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of the constituency within which the place of ordinary residence of the applicant in India as given in his/her valid passport falls. The application can be presented in person before the ERO or sent by post addressed to the ERO concerned. If the application is sent by post it must be accompanied by self-attested copy of the passport and all other relevant documents mentioned in Form 6A. (It may be noted that, as per the Corrigenda to the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules, 2011, as far as the attestation of documents related to the registration process is concerned, such attestation will be only self attestation by the overseas electors and not by the Indian Embassy/Consulate).
Form 6A and guidelines, addresses of the EROs and other details are available at the website of the Election Commission of India at: www.eci.nic.in . This information can also be found at the websites of the concerned Chief Electoral Officers of the States and Union Territories.
It may be noted that after enrolment, the overseas elector will be able to cast vote in election in the constituency, only if he/she is physically present in the polling station on the day of poll along with his/her original passport.
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