Kozhikode: Shafi Parambil, the UDF candidate in the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, has stretched his poll campaign to the Gulf countries to lure Non-Resident Indian voters.

Shafi landed in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and campaigned among the expat community in Qatar on Monday. He addressed a gathering of NRIs that assembled at the behest of the Sharjah Indian Association.

The Congress leader, who will be up against popular CPM leader K K Shailaja and BJP's Praful Krishna, appealed to the NRIs to fly home to cast their votes if it was financially viable. General elections to all 20 constituencies in Kerala will be held on April 26.

“Shafi got an exciting reception in the UAE. Thousands of Malayalees came there to meet him. The programme continued till the early hours of Monday,” said Punnakkan Mohammed Ali, General Secretary of the Overseas Indian Congress Committee in UAE.

The Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency comprises seven legislative assembly constituencies spread across the districts of Kannur and Kozhikode. While Vadakara, Koyilandy, Perambra, Nadapuram and Kuttiyadi come under the Kozhikode district, Thalassery and Koothuparamba are part of the Kannur district.

According to sources, all the above regions have a significant number of NRI voters, mainly based in the Gulf regions. Nadapuram, Kuttiyadi and Koothuparamba have the highest number of NRI voters, who are mostly settled in UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Can the NRIs vote? and How?
The Election Commission of India says an Indian living abroad, who has not acquired the citizenship of another country and is above the age of 18, is eligible to be registered as a voter "in the constituency in which his place of residence in India as mentioned in his passport is located".

Such an individual can enrol in the electoral roll by filing an "application for the purpose in prescribed Form 6A before the Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer of the constituency within which the place of ordinary residence of the applicant in India as given in his/her passport falls".

How can they exercise their franchise?
The EC says after enrolment, the overseas elector will have to be present in person at the specified polling station in his/her constituency.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 25,606 registered NRI voters flew to vote in various constituencies in India. Of the total, 25,091 cast their votes in Kerala.

NRI voters also came home in large numbers to cast their votes during the last Assembly Elections in Kerala in 2021. A majority of them travelled in chartered flights booked by certain organisations that footed the flight tickets.

Even though NRI voters earned their right to register in the electoral rolls more than a decade ago, the government has yet to approve the option of proxy voting or e-postal ballots. NRI businessman Dr Shamhseer Vayalil approached the Supreme Court through a public interest litigation seeking an amendment. However, the options of proxy or e-postal ballots for the NRIs are yet to be approved.