Police collect details of students abroad to enroll them as voters

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, February 12

To ensure a voting right to all non-resident Indians (NRIs), including the students on study visa in foreign countries, the police on Tuesday started collecting the passport details of all such persons in the villages of Faridkot.

The police have asked the families to provide the passport details of their members in foreign countries. These details are being collected on the directions of the State Election Commission, police sources said.

Though there is an extensive Punjabi diaspora in different parts of the world and an increasing number of students from the state are going to Australia and Canada on study visa every day, the registration of these NRIs as ‘overseas electors’ is very low.

As per the information gathered from the Election Commission, till December 15, 2017, a total of 24,348 NRIs were ‘overseas electors’ and 23,556 of these voters were from Kerala.

About 350 NRI voters are registered in Punjab. As the number of NRI electors in the state is abysmal, the Election Commission wants to give the right to vote to all of them and is collecting details of all NRIs, including students, to make them cast their votes.

The other motive of collecting the details of these NRIs and students is to check misuse or duplicity of their vote in their absence. As of now, NRIs—essentially people living or working abroad, who have not given up their Indian citizenship—can cast their vote in the constituencies they are registered in.

For this, they have to register themselves as voters and then be present on the election day. The hesitation to spend money and travel just to vote is the reason for low enrolment as ‘overseas electors’.

The government is also planning to extend proxy voting rights to them on the lines of service voters.

“In view of the difficulties faced by the overseas electors, the government has considered the feasibility of facilitating external mode of voting, ie voting by proxy, whereby such electors can exercise their franchise from their place of residence abroad”, said a senior functionary of the police department.

Low number of Punjabi ‘overseas electors’ 

• Though there is an extensive Punjabi diaspora in different parts of the world and an increasing number of students from the state are going to Australia and Canada on study visa every day, the registration of these NRIs as ‘overseas electors’ is very low

• As per the information gathered from the Election Commission, till December 15, 2017, a total of 24,348 NRIs were ‘overseas electors’ and 23,556 of these voters were from Kerala

• As the number of NRI electors in the state is abysmal, the Election Commission wants to give the right to vote to all of them and is collecting details of all NRIs, including students, to make them cast their votes

• The other motive of collecting the details of these NRIs and students is to check misuse or duplicity of their vote in their absence