The right to vote is a statutory right subject to conditions and restrictions prescribed by law, and the personal presence of the overseas elector in the booth is necessary for casting a vote.

JUDGMENT/ORDER

1. Petitioner, a Non-Resident Indian presently residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has presented this social action litigation with a prayer scripted as under:

"Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other Writ or order or directions against the Respondents to provide the voting facility to NRIs in their respective residing countries in the Elections."(sic)

2. Learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner argues that India being a democratic polity, periodic elections do take place and therefore, a large chunk of citizens residing in several foreign countries, as NRIs cannot be excluded from the democratic process; right to vote in the elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures should be made available to the NRIs. He hastens to add that with the advanced Science and Technology, such a facility can be provided disregarding whatever arguable difficulties the Election Commission of India may have.

3. Sri M N Kumar, on request to accepts notice for the 1st Respondent - Union of India; Sri S.R. Dodawad, learned counsel appears for 2nd Respondent - Election Commission of India and the 4th Respondent - Chief Electoral Officer. Learned AAG Sri Subramanya R appears for the 3rd Respondent - State of Karnataka. It is submitted on behalf of the Respondents that: the right to vote is a creature of law; in the absence of such a right is shown to have been created by law, prayer of the kind cannot be granted; to whom right to vote should be accorded is a matter of statutory policy and therefore, Writ Courts cannot intervene in the matter. They also highlight the possible difficulties of such a right being granted to the NRIs, whilst on foreign soil.

4. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the Petition papers, this Court declines indulgence in the matter for the following reasons:

a) Harald Lasky highlighted the method of periodical poll as the foundation for "Government by consent". In his famous work entitled "Grammar of Politics", he writes "... it has been the judgment of most modern communities that the term of power enjoyed by any Government must be subject to periodical renewal. There is, that is to say, no permanent right to power. Every Government must submit itself to the judgment of those who feel the consequence of its acts and again ... It involves, firstly a measureless importance in the method of submission. The way in which popular judgment is elicited must be such as to secure a valid expression of public opinion. It involves in the second place, the certainty that in the period of office, a normal Government will seek so to act that it keeps, so far as it can, the balance of the popular judgment in its favour." The emphasis is on the fact that "the rulers" should be accepted by the "ruled", and this acceptance being no mere acquiescence but a "conscious choice". Poll is the most important and vital stage in the electoral process. It is through the poll that the voters who are the ultimate rulers in a democracy bestow their mandate to the candidates of their choice in the electoral fray.

b) Elections are described as festivals of democracy and the polling day marks the most eventful occasion in their celebration that decide the fate of political parties and the candidates. The Apex Court in MOHINDER SINGH GILL Vs. CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER, AIR 1978 SC 851 quotes what Sir Winston Churchill had said " at the bottom of all tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into a little booth with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper..." And that is poll. The Constitution of India seeks to achieve and has over the years achieved in an appreciable measure the democratic set up and the rule of law by electoral legislation. To be effective, efficient and enlightened, everyone has to contribute to this pivotal process of poll. In India, the law relating to elections inter alia is comprised in the provisions of the Constitution, the Representation of t