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NRI Voters
The government's NRI cell received over 400 complaints from women in 2022, with key issues ranging from domestic violence, confiscation of passports, desertion to dowry demands and child custody disputes. According to the latest annual report from the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) accessed by PTI, 109 complaints were registered between January and March 2022, while 372 were received from April to December. The report highlighted that the NRI cell, which handles cases related to NRI marriages from women both in India and abroad, saw several serious allegations, including confiscation of passports by in-laws, and women being unable to join their husbands abroad due to the husband's disappearance or unknown whereabouts. "The complexity of NRI marriages often involves significant challenges, including legal and financial aid, child custody issues, and the location of missing spouses," the report stated, urging collaboration across government departments to resolve these
Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are likely to meet the Election Commission on Friday over their demand to promptly release the absolute voter turnout figures in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls after each phase, sources said. While the sources had earlier said that the meeting was scheduled for Thursday, it was later changed to Friday. The opposition leaders will also raise the issue of alleged "use of religious symbols" by the BJP in its campaign, the sources added. INDIA bloc parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have written to the poll panel separately so far, expressing concern over the alleged "delay" in the release of the voter turnout data in the first two phases. Amid the opposition's allegations, the poll body had asserted that booth-wise data of the "actual number of votes polled" is available to the candidates soon after the voting ends. In a statement issued last week, the EC also said it attaches "due importan