Out of millions of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), particularly those from Punjab, only 138 NRI voters are registered with the State Election Commission.They have now demanded ‘electronic voting’ instead of physical voting saying it was extremely expensive to come to the country just to cast votes.
At the same time, the NRIs also blamed the Central Government authorities for not making any efforts to popularise or advertise regarding the registration of voters, owing to their low enrolment.
Since 2012 State Assembly polls, around 51 more NRIs have come forward to get themselves registered with the Election Commission. The previous figure was 87. The number appears ‘small’ as over two years have lapsed since the Centre issued notification granting voting rights to the NRIs — something the successive governments in the State have all along been demanding.
The reason is simple.For the Punjabi NRIs, the comfort of greener pastures across the sea is greater than the zeal to participate in the electoral process back home. As per the Punjab Government’s notification, “every overseas elector, that is Indian citizen who is absenting from his place of ordinary residence in India owing to employment, education or otherwise, and has not acquired citizenship of another country and who is not included in the electoral roll, is entitled to have his or her name registered in the electoral rolls of the constituency in which his or her place of residence in India as mentioned in his or her passport is located”.
But, while grating them the ‘Right to Vote’, the Government had also made it clear that a person will be able to exercise the franchise “only if he or she is present in the constituency on the day of polling” — which the NRI consider “taxing” and “expensive”.
“It is difficult to spend lakhs of rupees and come here for voting…They should provide us the option of online voting. When they have made provisions for the armed forces, why not us,” Punjabi NRI Sabha president Jasvir Singh Gill told The Pioneer.
In unison, former Congress MlA, also an NRI, Jassi Khangura also called for facilitating the NRIs to vote electronically. lamenting on the low enrolment, Khangura said that the blame should be laid on the Indian authorities who failed to advertise regarding the voting registration of the NRIs.
“Very few NRIs have come forward for registration and that was many because Government of India made no efforts to the people abroad and ask them to register for voting. Even as the registration process has been made quite smoother now, the NRIs are reluctant to register as they have to come to India for voting,” said Khangura.
He added that the Centre “should apply its mind to make arrangements for enabling the NRIs to vote electronically”.
The NRIs, given the Right to Vote in 2011, would vote in lok Sabha elections for the first time. As many as 11,844 NRIs have enrolled via post for 2014 lok Sabha elections with Kerala leading the charts with a whopping number of 11,488 NRIs — 96 per cent of the total number, followed by Punjab with just 138 — comprising just 1 per cent.
Around 11 million NRIs are living in various countries across the world, most of whom are from Punjab. Doaba belt, comprising Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts, had seen maximum immigration from Punjab. In the US alone, there are approximately seven lakh Punjabis, of whom 2.5 lakh hold Indian passports and are eligible to vote in the forthcoming elections.