NRI businessman appeals for voting rights

In a letter to TS Krishna Murthy, Ram Buxani said it is the duty of CEC to make arrangements to facilitate voting by NRIs in Indian elections.

NRI businessman and former president of Overseas Indians Economic Forum Ram Buxani has urged the Chief Election Commissioner to ensure that the 15 million strong overseas Indian community be given the facility to vote.

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In a letter to TS Krishna Murthy, Buxani said that it is the duty of the CEC to make arrangements to facilitate voting by the NRIs in elections in India.

Even prisoners enjoy voting rights and so do soldiers working in remote areas and as such the NRIs holding Indian passport cannot be shut out of the process of Indian elections, he said.

"This is discrimination and an inadvertent slip," Buxani said adding it "needed to be addressed by the Election Commissioner of India."

He said that he was sending a copy of the letter to the President APJ Abdul Kalam for action.

Several Indian organisations in the Gulf have been pressing for the facility to vote in Indian elections.