NRIs fail to use opportunity to vote
Friday, April 29, 2011http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/NRIs-fail-to-use-opportunity-to-vote/articleshow/8112113.cms
For the first time they got an opportunity to register as voters in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, but not even a single non-resident Indian (NRI) capitalised on it.
The Election Commission had made provision for NRIs to exercise their franchise by filling in Form 6A through the EC portal. According to the EC guidelines, if the Form 6-A is sent by post with relevant documents, his or her name would be enrolled in the list.
Chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar said: "Even though the EC had made the NRIs eligible to be included as voters and exercise their franchise, no NRI from Tamil Nadu came forward to cast their votes." NRIs whose names were on the rolls as local residents, however, voted.
The EC has not allowed the NRIs to vote through post. According to EC's guidelines, if application (Form 6A) is sent by post with relevant documents, his/her name will be enrolled in the electoral list..
After his/her enrolment they (NRIs) will be able to cast votes in election in the constituency, if they are physically present in the polling station along with their original passport on the day of poll.
However, NRIs feel that the election date in Tamil Nadu was on a working day and it may not have been possible for them to get leave to come to their native place and cast their votes.
"First of all I am not aware of the fact about Form 6A. Moreover, I could not have taken off on April 13 since it was a working day here. Further to come to India, I needed to spend more money", R Sivakumar, who doing textile business in Malaysia told TOI over phone.
Former CEO Naresh Gupta said the interval between the date of finalisation of candidates by the EC to the date of poll was very short for NRIs to communicate. "Also they are required to be present in the constituency to enable them to vote", he added.
