How do you define a "resident" of a country? The question becomes interesting in the context of Vijay Mallya's response to the Indian Express-International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reports that revealed that the liquor-to-airline baron had a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. His spokesman explained its presence as part of Mallya's global business interests, since he was a non-resident Indian (NRI). Now, Mallya is also a member of the Rajya Sabha, eligibility for which requires him to be "ordinarily resident" in the state he represents. How can he be "ordinarily resident" if he is an NRI? It seems this qualification simply requires a person to be on the voters' list. Nor, it seems, is this novel. Recent examples of NRI parliamentarians are US-based Madhu Goud Yaskhi (Lok Sabha) and Dubai-based Abdul Wahab (Rajya Sabha).
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