Non-resident Indians (NRIs) may not be able to vote yet as the Election Commission of India has pointed to the government the difficulties it is facing in extending voting services outside the country, reports The Hindu.

Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla said at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday that setting up polling stations in cities abroad involves a major logistical problem. The Commission would have to move many electronic voting machines to various cities abroad between the last day of nominations and the polling day and bring them back.

NRIs can be registered as voters only if they have spent six months in the country. Under this rule, many NRIs would not qualify to vote. The law extends the franchise to those working and studying abroad and others. However, the term ‘others’ is not well-defined and the commission fears, could include criminal elements.

The Commission added in its statement, which was written two months ago, that the authority of the Election Commission while conducting polling abroad too could be an issue. Chawla said the Commission had so far issued voter identity cards to 582 million voters, constituting 82 per cent of the electorate. It hoped to achieve 100 per cent coverage by the end of next year. Kerala is a model state as it had achieved 100 per cent coverage much earlier.

He said the issuing of cards had helped check bogus voting to a large extent. The appointment of booth-level officers also helped improve the accuracy of electoral rolls. Around 90,000 video cameras and 50,000 digital cameras were used in the last Lok Sabha elections to check malpractices.