NRI Sabha poll evokes little interest
Sunday, 27/01/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130126/punjab.htm#9
Jalandhar : A majority of over a million Punjabis settled abroad are showing no interest in the election to the post of president of the NRI Sabha, Punjab, scheduled to be held on January 27.
Only 18,735 Punjabis settled abroad are enrolled as members of the sabha and are eligible voters. Also, not more than 10 per cent of the eligible voters will be here to cast their vote at the NRI Bhawan in Jalandhar.
The voter will have to be present at the polling booth with his passport as identity proof. There is no provision of postal ballot. During the last NRI Sabha elections held in 2010, the voters were allowed to send their nominees for voting.
British MP Virendra Sharma, who hails from Jalandhar, is among those who have specially come to India for cast his vote. Jalandhar Additional DC-cum-returning officer Praneet Bhardwaj said he would recommend a system to ensure participation of NRIs during the next elections.
Only 2,435 voters had cast their vote in 2010 when there was a provision for authorising nominees to cast vote. Sitting NRI Sabha president Kamaljit Singh Hayer said: "Not more than 2,000 voters are expected to exercise franchise this time too."
Hayer, former president NRI Sabha chief Pritam Singh Narungpur and former senior vice- president Jasvir Singh Gill are locked in a triangular fight for the post of President. All three candidates hail from the Doaba region.
In the fray for president’s post
