The large number of Non Resident Indians belonging to many communities across the world , has welcomed, the recent decisions taken by union cabinet to extend proxy voting to the overseas Indians. Senior Election Commission of India members recently got in to interaction with few eminent Indain-American Community leaders in the New York City and Washington.

The authorities present in the meeting said that the feedback was very positive,but many of them had questions on the process.

The delegation of the meeting which was led by Umesh Sinha, a well known senior Deputy Election Commissioner and another Deputy Election Commissioner Sanddep Saxena was also present.

Thomas Abraham, chairman of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), also said that “We welcome this move”.

Still an India Citizen, despite having earned a green card for more than Forty years now,  Abraham said that the decision of the Indian government in this regard is a dream come true for the people like him and many other.

As per the estimation of The Election Commission of India (EC), there are approximately 16 million Indian citizen living, overseas, which would calculate to be around 70 percent are eligible to vote.

The significant portion of them, are in the Middle east, in US the estimate range of 80,000 to 1.5 million.

An overwhelming majority of them are young, either university students or those on the H1B Visas.

All overseas electors will have to select a nominee afresh for each election, every one person can vote as only one person as proxy overseas voter. With the cabinet’s approval, sources said that suitable rules and other guidelines will be framed to make this move effective soon.

By Lokesh