2019 LS polls: A poor turnout among overseas Indians

New Delhi, Oct 21: One-fourth of the nearly 1 lakh overseas Indians cast their vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

According to the data released by the Election Commission of India, a total of 99,807 overseas Indians who are living abroad had not given up their citizenship here. They are on the voters' lists of various states. These include 91,850 men, 7,943 women and 14 transgenders.

25,606 men and 1,148 women voted in the General Elections. In Delhi, 336 overseas Indians, including 231 men and 105 women had registered as voters, but none came to vote.

In Puducherry, there are 272 voters, but none cast their vote. In West Bengal too there are 34 registered voters, but none voted.

Kerala which has the highest number of overseas voters had a better record. Out of the 85,161 registered voters, 25,091 voted. It may be recalled that the Bill to extend the facility of proxy voting for overseas Indians had lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. The Bill had proposed that overseas Indians who are entitled to vote in India can appoint a proxy voter to cast the vote on his or her behalf. The proposal to re-introduce the Bill in Parliament is pending before the Union Cabinet.