Can an NRI contest elections?
Most of you must have read the about the news last week regarding Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala, Hon. Abdul Wahab who had to get off the Kozhikode-Kochi flight after an incident involving the pilot.
What got my attention though was that Sh. Wahab was mentioned as an “NRI” in some news-reports:
“…Elected to the Rajya Sabha on an Indian Union Muslim League ticket in 2004, Wahab is one of the richest and most well known NRI entrepreneurs in the Gulf with interests ranging from real estate to shipping to hospitality.”
which begs the question: Can NRIs contest elections? and still continue to be NRI?*
According to this report, they can:
“…can an NRI contest election? Kumar, who was once convener of TRS’s human resources development panel, says: “Yes, as long as the NRI carries an Indian passport, he can.”
As far as I know, NRIs (even those with Indian passports) cannot vote from abroad and those without Indian passports cannot vote at all…(although there may be proposals to change this).
So while NRIs may be able to contest elections, can they still hold their “Non Resident” status after they have been elected?
Should NRIs be encouraged to contest elections and vote from abroad? How about “dual citizens”? and how about “Persons of Indian Origin”? How about Rahul Gandhi?
Comments and thoughts welcome.
* Technically, Sh. Wahab did not actually contest any election since he was nominated for Rajya Sabha by IUML.
