NRIs from various countries made efforts to participate in the Lok Sabha elections for ok Sabha elections for Votes. some heading to coastal states like Kerala and Karnataka, while others went back to places like Meerut in the north. Expatriates from the UAE, like Anwar Naha, returned to Kerala to vote, with special flights arranged by KMCC. Their involvement, especially via chartered flights, grabbed attention in Kerala, while NRIs in Mangaluru and Bengaluru also prioritized voting. Harsha DM and Spoorthi CS flew from Sydney to vote in Bengaluru’s Bangalore North constituency.
Anwar Naha, 53, working in the UAE, cast his vote at a polling booth in Kerala’s Malappuram.
Naha mentioned that five chartered flights had been organized from the UAE for this election by the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC). Additionally, many expatriates had returned home via regular flights.
As 13 states went to polls in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, many NRIs flew down to cast their votes.
While many traveled to coastal states, three NRIs returned home to vote in Meerut. Manav Tyagi (35) from New Zealand, Gaurav Gulati (37) from Germany, and Harsh Vardhan Agarwal (31) from the US.
In Kerala, expats taking chartered flights back home to vote became widely discussed.
Hassan Chalil, state president of Dubai KMCC, cast his vote in Nadapuram under Vadakara LS constituency and mentioned that expat voters had come in two chartered ‘vote flights’ to Vadakara alone. They booked flights from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and other Gulf countries.
Mangaluru saw many NRIs take leave to return home to vote. Christopher Roshan Lobo, a resident of Kulshekar near Mangaluru, decided to come home for the weekend from Bahrain where he is employed.
Gokuldas Bhat from Belthangady gave 45 of his employees two days leave to return and vote, while Abdulla Madumoole from Abu Dhabi posted on X: “Spent almost 1 lakh rupees for this one mark in an effort to bring back sanity, civility, and normalcy to our great nation.”
Harsha DM and his wife Spoorthi CS, from Bengaluru, landed in the city from Sydney. Harsha voted at a polling station in Dasarahalli near Hebbal, while Spoorthi cast her vote at a booth in Hebbal, both in the Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency.