NRIs may get voting
right- Marxist member proposed
bill
Expedite passage of NRI voting right bill: CPI(M)
New Delhi,December 09, 2005
UNI
A senior Marxist member today urged the Centre to
expedite the passage of the proposed bill to confer
voting right on Non Resident Indians (NRI).
Making a special mention in the Lok Sabha, Mr Varkala
Radhakrishnan said the proposed bill to amend the
Representation of People Act should be passed immediately
as elections are due in a few states such as Kerala,
West Bengal and Tamil Nadu within the next few months.
Mr Radhakrishnan appealed to the government not to
resort to the practice of promulgating an ordinance
to give effect to the NRI voting right, and wanted
to introduce a bill and pass it after proper discussion.
''You should not resort to your usual practice of
ordinance promulgation. This has become a custom with
you,'' he said, while criticising the government for
doing so in the past.
Mr RAdhakrishnan said it was very important to give
voting right to the NRIs, especially to those working
in West Asia. In the case of NRIs in West Asia, they
were not given citizenship by the country where they
were working.
But in their own country, even if they are available
here during the time of election, they were deprived
of the right to vote.
''This is a serious situation,'' he said, adding
that a solution should be found at the earliest.
