Team Herald
MARGAO: The Union government on November 1, 2022, in the Supreme Court (SC) gave an assurance that it was working towards finding a solution that will facilitate Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to cast their votes remotely, while ensuring the integrity of the electoral process.
An SC bench led by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was hearing several petitions, including one filed by the NRI Global Goan Cell, which was formed by former Chief Minister of Goa, Luizinho Faleiro in March 2015.
Having recorded the statement of the Attorney-General of India, R Venkataramani, the SC recently disposed of the petitions. Simon D’Silva, the President of the Goan Welfare Association in Doha, Qatar, who was appointed Chairman of this Cell had flown to New Delhi to pursue their petition in the SC.
Rajya Sabha MP Faleiro and D’Silva were extremely happy with the impact of the petition in the SC and said this is a huge achievement not only for the Non-Resident Goans (NRGs) but for all NRIs as well.
“The biggest initiative of the Global Goan Cell was to demand NRI voting rights,” said D’Silva. Reacting to the SC’s take on the matter, D’Silva said, “Today I am really happy. This is not only for Goans but all Indians who will get their voting rights as the SC has now passed an order.”
“There are 5 lakh Goans all over the world out of which nearly 2.5 lakh Goans are in the Gulf region. So, I had the opportunity of visiting many parts of the world and every time I visited, I met many Goan organisations. I had then suggested to them that why don’t we form one organisation, which can represent all the organisations, which are there around the world,” said Faleiro.
“So, in March 2015, we formed the Global Goan cell under the chairmanship of Simon D’Silva and we appointed the heads of the Goan associations as convenors under him. One of the main objectives was that these Goans who are living across the world do not have voting rights,” Faleiro added.
“Now filing a petition in the Supreme Court is a difficult thing in terms of financial and legal resources. I would like to specially thank Advocate Zilman (Jose Elmano) Coelho Pereia for all the work he put in for this petition. I would also like to thank Supreme Advocate Kapil Sibal, a dear friend of mine, who represented us in the Supreme Court whenever there were hearings,” said Faleiro.
“I would also like to thank the Advocate on Record, Adv Beenu Tampta, who was very instrumental in following it up. The order is very clear. The question was whether the govt of India will immediately implement the voting rights of the NRIs, keeping confidentiality in this and whether this will be via e-voting or via postal ballots or by authorising a proxy to vote on their behalf,” the MP added further.
