The court was hearing a bunch of PILs in which it has been contended that the existing provision which mandates NRI voter to be physically present in the constituency to exercise his vote was discriminatory and violative of fundamental rights.
Petitioners, including NRI Shamsheer VP, have submitted that a total number of over one crore people will be entitled to cast their vote if NRIs are allowed to vote from overseas.
The PILs said 114 countries have adopted external voting and amongst it are 20 Asian countries.
It said the external voting could be by setting up polling booths at the diplomatic mission, or by postal, proxy or electronic voting.
Shamsheer migrated to the UAE 12 years ago prior to which he was enrolled as a voter in his hometown of Calicut, Kerala and had voted in the elections. Subsequently, he was removed from the voters list because of his NRI status.
