Thiruvananthapuram, July 17 (IANS) Kerala will ask the central government to change electoral laws to enable NRIs to vote, state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said in the state assembly Friday.
The minister was responding to a query by Indian Union Muslim League leader P.K. Abdu Rabb who asked the state government to take up the issue with the centre.

“In the previous assembly, a unanimous resolution was passed by the house and given to the central government (on the voting rights for the diaspora). For this to be a reality, the People’s Representatives Act has to be amended. In the West, several countries allow their diaspora to vote,” pointed out Rabb.

Isaac replied: “But the centre so far has not taken it up. We will certainly bring this to the attention of the central government again and again.”

Kerala has close to two million people who work abroad, of which 90 percent work in the Middle East.