NRI Sabha election in January
Wednesday, 01/08/2012
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Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Tuesday announced to hold the election of the NRI Sabha in January next. Announcing this, the NRI Affairs Minister Bikram Singh Majithia said that the work to revise the NRI electoral rolls would also begin forthwith.
Chairing a meeting with the representatives of the NRI Sabha, Majithia said that the main objective of holding these elections in the month of January was mainly to ensure maximum participation of NRIs in exercising their right to vote.
He, however, said that although the NRI Sabha has 20,000 enrolled members but very few participate in the electoral process. In order to increase the vote percentage in the forthcoming elections, the elections were being held in the month of January presuming that most of the NRIs visit India during winters and besides that the Union government was also holding the Parwasi Bharti Sammellan in Kochi from January 7 to January 9.
To redress the grievances of the NRIs, the Minister disclosed that the Punjab government was also in the process of launching its website where NRIs could file their complaints regarding revenue, police and any other cases for speedy disposal.
He also stated that with a view to decide the nomination process to cast the votes in NRI Sabha elections, a general body meeting would be called to decide whether the nominees should be continued or abolished.
Majithia asked the officers of the department to ensure that only the already registered members of NRI Sabha could cast their votes. He also directed the officials to revise the photo electoral rolls and put them on the website for any claims and objections before the final publication of the electoral rolls.
He informed that it was decided for the first time that the person contesting election would have to prove his or her NRI status according to the constitution of the NRI Sabha.
