Rajyotsava Awardee Urges ECI To Give a Year’s Time for NRIs To Complete Electoral Rolls Verification
81-year-old Meeran Saheb originally from Udupi district of Karnataka and residing in Dubai since 1974.
BENGALURU: Kannada Rajyotsava awardee Mohamad Meeran Saheb on Friday appealed to the Chief Election Officer, Karnataka to give a reasonable period of time of at least one year for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to complete the verification process undertaken as part of Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls considering the hardships being faced by NRIs.
81-year-old Meeran Saheb originally from Udupi district of Karnataka and residing in Dubai since 1974. Saheb has a residence in Bengaluru and completed the enrolment in the voter list. Saheb stated “consider providing a one-year facilitation/verification window for NRIs so that they can arrange their travel during their normal annual leave and complete the required formalities in India without undue hardships.”
In a letter to Chief Election Officer, the Rajyotsava awardee drew the attention of the Chief Election Officer over a number of young NRIs particularly from Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts, seeking guidance and assistance regarding the deletion of their names from the electoral rolls in the SIR exercise.
The letter stated “Some of the NRIs have already contacted Booth Level Officers of their respective areas. They have been reportedly advised by BLOs to come to India before September 20 and produce additional documents/proofs relating to their citizenship and other particulars.”
Saheb stated in the letter asking people to travel to India within a very short period creates several practical difficulties such as many have only returned to their countries of residence after their summer holidays in India, International travel st short notice involves considerable expenses, many NRIs are living with their families and making an immediate journey difficult, some NRIs may able to travel only during winter holidays in December among other reasons.
The awardee suggested to the Chief Election Officer instead of insisting on personal appearance before September 20, NRIs be permitted to submit an initial application or representation online through appropriate Election Commission/BLO mechanism, upload whatever documents are presently available with the for preliminary verification, NRIs be given reasonable opportunity to personally appear before the concerned BLOs, be provided with a clear list of additional documents or deficiencies, if any, that needs to be rectified and others.
