K’taka Assembly Elections: HC Dismisses PIL Seeking Permission To Caste Vote For NRIs

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL seeking the grant of voting rights to NRIs in  Karnataka Assembly Elections, which are scheduled for May 10, 2023.

A vacation bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice Vijaykumar A Patil dismissed the petition filed by Ravi M, a Non-Resident Indian (NRI). In doing so, it accepted the submission made by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that, “The Right to vote is not a fundamental right and it is a creature of law. Therefore unless law is shown which provides for voting, the Right to vote cannot be sought for.”

“In view of the above the matter is thoroughly devoid of merits and it needs to be rejected and accordingly it is rejected,” the bench stated.

The petitioner’s organization, Sagarotara Kannadigaru, was founded during the COVID pandemic to bring NRI Kannadigas and other related institutions together to discuss and address the concerns raised, according to the plea. Sagarottara Kannadigaru is a CIC (Community Interest Company) registered in the United Kingdom to represent Kannadigas all over the world.

Ravi stated that he is an NRI working as a Registered Nurse in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 2008 and had requested the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka to provide the facility of voting from their respective residing countries, either by postal voting system or by opening a polling booth in the respective Indian embassy.

Ravi stated that he is a registered voter with a valid Election Identity Card from the Election Commission of India. Similarly, approximately 60 lac Indians are eligible voters working in various professions around the world, some with their families and some studying abroad at various universities.

It was stated that a few of the petitioner’s colleagues from the Philippines and Italy can vote from their respective residing countries even though they live abroad while their elections are taking place in their respective countries by visiting their embassies in their respective residing countries.

Thus, it was requested that the respondents, the Union of India and the Election Commission of India, provide voting facilities to NRIs in their respective residing countries during the elections.