Nationalist Congress Party patriarch Sharad Pawar has called for a meeting of all Opposition parties at his residence on Monday, to discuss the proposed Remote Electronic Voting for Migrants (RVM), mooted by the Election Commission recently.
According to sources, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi will also attend the meeting. However, there is no word from the Trinamool Congress on their participation.
All Opposition parties had expressed their misgivings about the proposed policy that would enable voters to vote at sites outside of their registered areas. The parties are sceptical about fraudulent voting since it would be difficult, especially for the smaller parties with lesser resources, to depute their person in every booth across the country for scrutiny.
Are remote voting machines (RVMs) the best way to enable migrants to vote? | In Focus podcast
The EC invited political parties for a demonstration of the working of RVM on January 16. During the meeting, the demonstration could not take place since the Opposition members questioned the EC’s mandate to moot such a proposal. They argued that it must be initiated in Parliament instead.
While the agenda of the meeting is on RVM, once the Opposition leaders sit together, it is also likely to deliberate on the current deadlock in the Parliament.
Published - March 22, 2023 10:02 pm IST
