DAMMAM: Indian expatriate organizations in the Eastern Province are electioneering in support of various political parties who are running for state assembly seats back home. The Indian states of Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Pondicherry are holding elections starting April 13. The Representation of the People's Act was amended recently and this is the first time in history Non-Resident Indians (NRI) can get onto the voters roll and cast their ballots. Many Indians here have registered as voters so they can be part of the politics back home. Election campaigning is the most intense among Indian expatriates hailing from the south Indian state of Kerala because the majority of the expatriate population in the Kingdom comes from Kerala. Keralites also have the most socio-cultural organizations here supported by different political parties back home. P.M. Najeeb, President of the Overseas Indian Cultural Congress (OICC) in the Eastern Province, told Saudi Gazette that election campaigning is in full swing. “We are sending our members back home to cast their votes in the state assembly elections to ensure that the political party we support wins. We are also making our members call their families and friends to persuade them to vote for our party,” he said. He said widespread campaigning is taking place in every part of the Eastern Province like Dammam, Al-Khobar, Qatif, Jubail, Saihat and Al-Hassa, concentrating on labor camps and those going on vacation this time of the year. M.M. Naeem, an organizer of Navodaya, another socio-cultural organization in the Eastern Province, said that they are campaigning by holding meetings in various parts of the region. “India is the largest democracy in the world and we are very enthusiastic when it comes to elections because we get to choose who will rule us for the next five years. “Keralites are very politically conscious people and they uphold their views in politics. We are campaigning on the basis of our party's developmental efforts over the last five years and also based on the election manifesto of our candidates.” “Along with the developmental activities of ruling parties in the homeland, expatriates look at the offers of each political party for the betterment of expatriates abroad,” he said. He said members of his organization are also traveling abroad to cast their votes in the elections. Kadavanadu Kunju Mohammed, of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Congress (KMCC), told Saudi Gazette they are sending their party workers to India to exercise their right to vote. “We are campaigning by sending emails and distributing pamphlets and brochures seeking people's support for the political party we back. Some of our members are taking vacation this month to participate in the elections.” He said they are also helping their party financially to put up posters.
