NRI family from Singapore flies to India to cast ballot

Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, May 19

At a time when voter apathy is high among electorate in India, more so, in the ‘me generation’ who prefer to go on a picnic or laze around in their homes on the polling day, here is a non-resident Indian (NRI) family, driven by a sense of civic consciousness, returned to its roots, spending lakhs, just to take part in the democratic process.

Outlining her reason for making this trip, Shivalika Chauhan (34), who has been working in the IT field in Singapore for the past seven years, has taken leave from work to exercise her constitutional duty at her native place in Dera Bassi. She, along with her husband Vishnu Vardhan, who also works in the IT field, cast their vote at booth no 136 in Smt NN Mohan DAV Senior Secondary School, Dera Bassi.

Shivalika said: “Earlier her name did not feature in the voters’ list due to some paper work. She came to know two days ago that her name was in the list”.

Vishnu Vardhan, husband of Shivalika, said: “It feels good to be here to exercise the franchise. However, in future there should be a provision for Indians residing abroad to cast their vote from there”.

For them, it was mission election in general and ‘Modi Mattomme’ in particular. Shivalika will be fly back to Singapore with a sense of mission accomplished.