TRIVANDRUM, 16 January 2005 — Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to retain non-resident Indians on the electoral rolls so they can exercise their franchise while in India.
In a letter to the prime minister, Chandy also opposed the proposal to allow postal ballots to NRIs saying that would not be practical because of tight scheduling of elections in India.
“This is not feasible since the gap between the last date of withdrawal of nominations and the date of polling is not sufficient to permit postal ballots. Hence, any system of postal ballots for NRIs is unlikely to be successful,” he said.
Chandy is also skeptical about the suggestion of setting up polling stations at the diplomatic missions abroad. “It is not possible to have details of 543 parliamentary constituencies, and even larger number of assembly constituencies, at all the foreign missions,” he said, adding the only practical solution was to allow them to vote while in India.
“NRIs are citizens of India. Their names should be included in the voters’ list at their native places. The names along with the passport details should form a special part of the NRI voters’ list. Once the names are listed, they will be eligible to vote in person at the designated polling stations if they happen to be present there on the date of polling,” the letter said.
“The NRIs will have to produce their passports for identification at the time of polling. By giving voting rights to the NRIs who are present in the country on the polling day, we will be fulfilling our constitutional obligation to citizens of India,” he said.
The chief minister said the number of NRIs present during any election at home would not be more than 10 percent. “But the fact that they can come home and vote will make them feel they are just like any other Indian citizen having all civic rights,” he said.
Chandy said he had discussed the issue with the prime minister and NRI Affairs Minister Jagdish Tytler during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Bombay last week. “I understand some definite moves are on the cards and NRIs would soon be taking part in elections,” he said.
Some three million Kerala NRIs work in the Gulf, Europe and North America and their remittances are the backbone of the state’s economy. The state government is also aggressively wooing their investments and expertise. Last week, Chandy asked his officials to prepare a databank on Keralite experts working in different fields abroad. He plans to seek their opinion on the state’s development and promoting it as a destination for healthcare and education.
AI’s No-Frills Carrier Skips Kingdom
Air-India Express will not fly to Saudi Arabia in the first phase when Air-India launches its much-awaited low-cost operation from Kerala to Gulf destinations in the second fortnight of April.
“We will increase the fleet to 18 in phases and cover all destinations in Gulf and South East Asia from not only Kerala but also other states. Initially, the flights will cover only Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat from Kerala,” Air-India Chairman V. Thulsidas said.
He said the Air-India board had decided to skip Trivandrum-Dubai sector in the initial phase as the smaller Boeing 737-300 aircraft being used for the low-cost operation will not be able to carry cargo.
He said that the sector would be included in the schedule after alternative arrangements were made to transport the cargo that consists mostly of foodstuff consumed by Indians in Dubai.
The Air-India chief said the airline was planning to introduce chartered flights to carry the cargo.
