Chandigarh, Jan 27 (IANS) The NRI cell of Punjab’s opposition Congress Friday blamed the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for the lack of numbers of NRIs wanting to cast their vote in the Jan 30 assembly elections.

Only 45-50 NRI voters had been able to register themselves with authorities in Punjab for the Jan 30 assembly poll, NRI cell chief Inder Dev Singh Musafir told journalists here.

Blaming the state government for NRIs not being able to register themselves, Musafir said the process for NRIs to register as voters was so cumbersome that most chose not to do it.

Said Gurminder Thind, an NRI from London: “My wife and I had especially came to India to present our documents and register ourselves so that we can vote, but the procedure was so long and complicated that we had to return without any result.”

“The Election Commission has just provided a website, but the verification and documentation is under the state administration which is being manipulated under the influence of Akali Dal-BJP alliance state government,” he pointed out.

“NRIs are unable to register themselves for voting. The Akali Dal-BJP do not have much support among NRIs and therefore don’t want them to register,” Musafir alleged.