More than 8,000 NRI's voted in Kerala

[rajan singh]

Historic vote for India's UAE residents
Preeti Kannan, 14, 2011, DUBAI
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/historic-vote-for-indias-uae-residents


Indian expatriates living in the UAE made history yesterday by
joining thousands of people who travelled to their homeland to cast
ballots for the first time.

"This is an amazing experience," said Babu Peethambaran, a property
consultant from Dubai who voted in Kerala's Kannur district for the
first time in 27 years.

"I had postponed my annual holiday to time it with the elections as I
was really keen to take advantage of the government's move that gave
us voting rights."

Last August, the central government in New Delhi agreed, for the first
time in the nation's history, to grant non-resident Indians (NRIs) the
right to vote.

Kerala's state assembly elections were one of the first contests under
the new law - and given the vast number of Keralites who work in the
Gulf, they were shaping up as a gauge of the appeal of the new-found
franchise.

While only a small fraction of those eligible - roughly 8,800 voters
out of an estimated 2.5 million Indian nationals across the Gulf -
took part in yesterday's elections, many said the turnout would have
been higher if the rules had been clearer.

Polling began in the state's 140 constituencies at 7am yesterday and
ended at 5pm. Overall, turnout was strong, with more than 70 per cent
of the state's eligible residents voting. More than 23.1 million
people were expected to cast their votes at 20,758 polling stations.
The results are to be announced on May 13.

In India, the states and the union territories go to the polls every
five years. The state assemblies are directly elected bodies that
carry out the administration of the central government.

Expatriates blamed yesterday's lower turnout among NRIs on conflicting
guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and
the election commission in enrolling voters.

"We were initially told that self-attested copies of residents'
passports would suffice," said NP Ramachandran, the general secretary
of the Overseas Indian Cultural Congress in the UAE. "The election
commission initially demanded passport copies be attested by the
overseas Indian missions and just a few days before the final
enrolment dates, agreed to accept self-attested documents. Many people
were unable to register because of this confusion."

The minister of overseas Indian affairs, Vayalar Ravi, defended the
delay, saying his ministry had several rounds of discussions to
persuade the election commission to allow self-attested papers.

"It was with great difficulty the election commission agreed to accept
self-attested copies of passports," he said. "We are happy we finally
set the ball rolling. It's really great that so many people have
turned up in large numbers to enthusiastically vote."

Voters have also been demanding electronic voting or absentee ballots,
a practice common in western nations.

"If online voting was possible, more Indians will exercise their
franchise," Mr Ramachandran said.

Mr Ravi agreed: "This depends on the election commission's ability to
develop an electronic voting process."

But for those who took the trouble to vote, yesterday was a special
day.

Shahnawaz Elamana, a sales executive from Dubai, had arrived in Kerala
a few days early to canvass for his favoured party's candidates.

"My party has good support and I wanted to be there to bolster support
for them," Mr Elamana said. "However, it is a great feeling to have
voted with fellow expatriate Indians who have come all the way from
different countries, like me."

He continued: "One of my friends was contesting the election, and I
just had to be there to support him. I was lucky I could arrange a
substitute beforehand at work to get here. Many others were unable to
travel either because it's expensive or because they were unable to
take time off."

Abdul Azeez, who runs a maintenance company in Abu Dhabi, said this
was an opportunity he could not ignore to have a say in his state's
development. "I was thrilled when the government gave us the go-ahead
last year. he said.

Kerala is currently governed by the communist-led Left Democratic
Front alliance, which holds 99 of the state assembly's 140 seats.