India’s apex court has cleared the proposal for allowing its more than 10 million non-resident citizens to vote in elections from abroad.

The Supreme Court also gave the federal government eight weeks to inform about further steps taken on the long pending demand of NRIs for enfranchisement.

One of the petitioners, Dr. Shamseer Vayalil, said the court favored e-postal ballot whereby the poll officers electronically transfer the ballot papers to registered electors who will return them by post after casting their vote.

In October last year, the Election Commission (EC) submitted in the court a detailed report of a 12-member panel of experts, which also included representative of the Federal Law Ministry, after consulting political parties with the options of e-postal ballot and proxy voting.

The government also informed the court that it had accepted ‘in letter and spirit’ the EC’s suggestions for absentee ballot. It now needs amendments in electoral laws accordingly.

“The Supreme Court has directed the government to implement the e-ballot within eight weeks,” said Dr. Vayalil, a radiologist who runs a hospital in Dubai. “It’s celebration time for NRIs. They will now have a say in policy making, even in government formation”.

The SC bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and AK Sikri asked the government to work on it at the earliest since it has agreed to allow absentee voting.

“Since the views and recommendations have been accepted let them go ahead with the follow-up. They will have to carry out the follow-up process at the earliest,” the court said.

Additional Solicitor General PL Narasimha told the court that the Ministry of Law was working on amendments in electoral laws based on the EC recommendations.

Till now, NRIs were allowed to enrol as voters online and cast their ballot if only they were present in their constituencies at the time of polling, which the petitioners termed as discriminatory.

They also pointed out that 114 countries allow absentee voting and among them are 20 Asian countries, prompting the judges to wonder why India did not address the issue so far.

The enfranchisement is likely to have a huge impact on elections in states like Kerala, which has nearly ten percent of its population living abroad, helping its economy sustain through remittances but having no say in elections.

“It’s going to make a huge difference in the state’s political landscape. Now the NRIs will decide who should rule them as well as the State. It’ll also bring the issues they face to the forefront,” said Manjalamkuzhi Ali, the state’s urban affairs minister.

The state government was waiting for the apex court to reach a decision and the federal authorities to set the rules to allow NRIs to vote in the civic polls just nine months away. The state also needs to make amendments in Panchayati Raj Act and the election manual to enfranchise its 2.5-million strong NRI community. The general elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly is due in April next year.

“The e-postal ballot is less expensive than the traditional voting and there’ll be no extra burden on the exchequer,” said Ali, who had spent nearly two decades as an NRI in the UAE and Saudi Arabia before taking the political plunge.

Last month, India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj had assured the NRIs that the EC was working on their voting rights.

The EC ruled out setting up polling stations at Indian mission abroad as in some nations the NRI population is as high as the native population making it difficult for the embassies to handle it.

The 50-page report on “exploring feasibility of alternative options for voting by overseas electors” that the government endorsed in the court was prepared by panel led by Vinod Zutshi, Deputy Election Commissioner.

“If these voting rights are allowed, it will give a huge boost to the country on several fronts too,” said another petitioner Nagendra Chindam, a London-based IT consultant who also staged a three-day hunger strike outside the Indian High Commission in London with the demand last year.