New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Monday directed the Centre to ensure that a system is put in place to allow NRIs to e-vote within 8 weeks.

The move comes after the government said that it was willing to accept the recommendations made by the Election Commission, which has favoured voting for NRIs through electronic means.

A committee comprising officials from the EC, Law Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs had taken the opinions from all sections before submitting a report to the apex court last year.

Any move to allow NRIs use proxy voting on the lines of defence personnel and e-ballot facility will require changes in the law.

Under the proposal, NRIs will be sent ballot papers electronically and they will have to return it to poll authorities physically.

According to EC website, after enrolment, an overseas elector will be able to cast his or her vote in an election in the constituency, in person, at the polling station provided for the part where he is registered as an overseas elector.

According to the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, a person who is a citizen of India and who has not acquired the citizenship of any other country and is otherwise eligible to be registered as a voter and who is absent from his place of ordinary residence in India owing to employment, education or otherwise is eligible to be registered as a voter in the constituency in which his place of residence in India, as mentioned in his passport, is located.

Taking the Ordinance route, government had recently promulgated an ordinance that seeks to merge Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes, by which PIOs will also get life-long Indian visa.

The amendments through the ordinance to the Citizenship Act will benefit PIOs and will give them benefits like life-long visa and exemption from appearing before the local police station on every visit.

The ordinance fulfils Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance in New York to Indian diaspora where he had promised a merger of the two schemes. He had also announced grant of lifetime visa to PIOs.

The decision to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 was taken after large number of complaints were received from PIOs, who often complained of visits to local police stations and stringent visa norms that debarred them from buying property in India, in comparison to those holding Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card.

PIO cardholders are now eligible for only 15-year visas in comparison to lifelong visas given to those having OCI cards.