Bringing them home: Parties rally NRIs in large numbers to vote in LS polls

Political parties, particularly in Kerala, Gujarat, and Punjab, are busy rallying overseas electors to return home and cast their votes. Kerala is set to go to the polls this Friday, while Gujarat and Punjab are scheduled for May 7 and June 1, respectively.

According to the Election Commission of India, for the 2019 Lok Sabha, as many as 99,844 non-resident Indians (NRIs) registered as “overseas electors”. Of them, over 25,000 made the journey back to India, with the largest number heading to Kerala, to exercise their democratic right.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s overseas arm, the Overseas Friends of BJP, has been busy organising events across the US and Western Europe, and even in Jerusalem. These events aim to rally NRIs behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi and encourage them to register as voters and make the trip to India.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had a vibrant NRI outreach for the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls, with many returning to campaign for the party. However, tensions between India and Canada over the role of Canada-based outfits in fuelling Sikh separatism have made the party cautious about sponsoring NRIs to return home to vote. But it expects a good response closer to the polling in Punjab, in the final phase on June 1.

Kerala is once again leading the way in courting NRIs to return home to vote. The cultural wings of political parties, such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, the Congress, the BJP, and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), are offering free tickets and even chartered flights from West Asia to facilitate NRI voters to fly back to India to vote this Friday.

During the 2021 Assembly elections, the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC), a cultural wing of the IUML, chartered three flights to bring back around 700 Indians from Gulf countries. Rafeeq Parakkal, state co-ordinator of KMCC in Saudi Arabia, told Business Standard: “This time we have not chartered any flights. We have campaigned there and as a result around 100 people came to Kerala in two flights. We are campaigning largely about the importance of elections.”

For some other parties, people are purchasing tickets on their own and visiting Kerala for a short term. Vinod Karthikeyan, former president of Kerala Art Lovers Association (Kala), a Kuwait-based cultural wing of the Left parties, works in Kuwait in an oil field and came to Kerala for a week to cast his vote in the Pathanamthitta constituency. “Campaigns started in Gulf countries much earlier, so that people like us can plan our leave accordingly. Moreover, in Pathanamthitta, a close fight is taking place between the Congress, the CPM, and the BJP. We have a prominent candidate like Thomas Isaac (CPM) and we believe that every vote counts," Karthikeyan said.

According to S Irudaya Rajan, chair of the International Institute of Migration and Development (IIMAD), around 8,000 NRIs reportedly came to Kerala during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the number may increase this time. “We should have around 2 million Malayalees in Gulf countries. This time, I am told that special flights are coming. During last Assembly polls, a lot of people came to vote and also because of Covid returnees, the share of NRIs was high,” Rajan noted.

The state also has 89,839 NRI voters, according to the final list published on April 4 by the office of the chief electoral officer (Kerala).

In addition to this, data shared by Norka Roots shows that there are around 4 million Malayalees outside the country and another 1.3 million outside the state. Sources said that cultural wings of several parties like the BJP are asking their supporters from the Gulf to come and vote at least in key constituencies like Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Pathanamthitta.

On 20 March, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) issued a social media message asking NRIs to cast their vote in the Lok Sabha polls, with a guide on how they should register as voters. According to the EC, a citizen of India living in another country -- that is someone who has not acquired citizenship of any other country -- can enrol himself/herself as a voter by filling form 6A on the EC’s voters’ portal and uploading the requisite proof. The EC’s booth-level officer will then visit the address mentioned in the passport and verify the documents. NRIs can vote at the polling station where they are registered by showing their original passport.

According to BJP sources, the NRI cell of Haryana BJP will hold a “Udghosh Yatra”, to be flagged off by Chief Minister Nayab Saini, to galvanise NRIs in the party’s support. Similar efforts are going on in Gujarat. However, the number of NRIs registered as overseas electors is still minuscule. Odisha, for example, had 42 NRIs registered until 2019 which has increased to 184. Total number of overseas electors is merely a fraction of the total number of NRIs, which according to the Ministry of External Affairs, is 13.4 million.

Bringing them home

> The cultural wings of political parties are offering free tickets to facilitate NRI voters to fly back to India

> The Bharatiya Janata Party’s overseas arm, Overseas Friends of BJP, has taken to organising events across the US and western Europe 

> The Kerala Muslim Centre, cultural wing of the IUML, had campaigned in Saudi Arabia and around 100 people have arrived in India to vote

> Haryana BJP’s NRI cell will hold a ‘Udghosh Yatra’ to galvanise NRIs in the party’s support

(With inputs from Archis Mohan)