Mrs. Subhashini Press Meet

Lok Satta senior women leaders Mrs. Atluri Subhashini and Mrs. Sumati Solipuram organised press meet in Hyderabad in support of NRI voting rights. Mrs. Subhashini explained the need for absentee voting rights and requested the media and other parties to come forward and support the cause.  See Hindu article: NRIs seek absentee voting facility for more information.

=

From

Voting from space

Some countries provide absentee ballot only for residents living abroad.  However some countries allow voters to choose either direct vote or absentee voting. Many of  you, who are living in United States, know that you can vote by mail instead of standing in the queue on the election day. This is absentee ballot in practice.

What happens, if people are not on earth but floating in space? Such people are called astronauts. Texas passed a bill in 1997 to extend voting facilities for astronauts who are not on the earth on the election day. Texas election officials used secure email as voting procedure for astronaut in 2009 elections. However Indian government is not extending absentee voting rights for NRIs who are living on earth.

See Democracy in orbit in "voters without borders" association that is fighting for absentee voting rights or nasa article about "Leroy Chiao' who used absentee voting as astronaut in 2004 elections.

Every country except India provides absentee voting rights

Several countries facilitate exercise of franchise through postal ballots (US, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Canada and UK) or at embassies and consulates (Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, France, Russia, Sweden, Philippines, Japan, Dominican Republic and Spain), or through internet voting (France). If several countries allow absentee voting rights for local residents, why can not NRIs have their say in the future of India? If you are emotional abut having constitution right as a citizen of India, you want your vote to be counted. Sign online petition for NRI absentee voting rights.

10 lakh Indian citizens in USA

There are around 10 lakh Indian citizens in just United States of America.

• 2 lakh students
• 3 lakh temporary workers
• 5 lakh permanent work permit holders

If 10 lakh people need to travel to India for casting vote in elections, it will take 100 days based on current airline carrier capacity.  Since it is not possible for all of them to travel on the same day and so average Indian has to take around 2 months break.  It also costs more than 100 million dollars traveling expenses that can be avoided. So sign the online petition for NRI absentee voting rights

From NRI Voting Rights campaign collection from all cities

Calling Andhra Pradesh MPs

27th October 2010

Calling Andhra Pradesh MPs - Updates

Hyma Sagi and Praveen have called 9 MP's from Andhra Pradesh tonight.

Hyma Sagi

Balram,Shri Porika Naik

• Mallikarjun secretary answered the call and asked us to call him back

Bothsa Jhansi Laksmi

• Said that she would support the Postal Ballot option if proposed in Loksabha. Asked me to send the request in writing. Sent her an email regarding the same

Chinta Mohan,Dr.

• Out of station. His wife took down my number and promised to pass on the message to him and have him call me back

Deo,Shri V. Kishore Chandra

• Said that he would support the Postal Ballot option if proposed in Loksabha. Asked me to send the request in writing. Sent him an email regarding the same

Gutha,Shri Sukender Reddy

• Not available.Will have to call him back

Praveen Potineni

Hari,Shri Sabbam

• Not very forthcoming. He said that he will not oppose since the bill is proposed by congress and we should speak with opposition MP’s for any amendments to the bill

Harsha Kumar,Shri G.V.

• Not available. Will have to call him back

Nimmala,Shri Kristappa

• Call after 2 days . On a committee meeting.

Rao,Shri Nama Nageswara

• He is proactive. He suggested that when he makes a proposal in the house, he has to give some constructive ideas for implementing the postal ballot/absentee voting. He wanted us to email the possible implementation ideas to be given to election commission. Sent him the email.

Calling Karnataka MPs for absentee voting rights

26th October 2010

Calls to all MPs of Karnataka

Calls to all MPs of Karnataka is complete. He are some details and interesting facts.

• Most of the secretaries said they understand our cause.
• Many of them told to send emails to MPs
• Ironically, In all the calls that were made, Deve Gowda secretary picked up in the first ring.
• Vishwanath,Shri Adagooru Huchegowda is the only MP to pick the call personally and talk. He spoke for more than 15 minutes and said he supports Absentee Voting cause. He listened the whole story with lot of interest, asked many questions and said this is a genuine request.
• Many of our MPs have wonderful ring tones which surprised us.
• Many secretaries came forward by giving the cell phone numbers of MPs. They even told to talk to MPs personally
• MP Ananth Kumar secretary asked some interesting questions (how corruption can be avoided in Internet + Postal voting) which we discussed in our status call yesterday.
• Many MPs phone number do not even work and many of them dont even pick the call.

HERE IS THE DETAILED CALL INFORMATION

Directly talked to MPs

• Vishwanath,Shri Adagooru Huchegowda
• Constituency   : Mysore (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Indian National Congress(INC)
• Email Address : nimmavishwanath@yahoo.com

Talked Directly to Vishwanath, MP of Mysore (Karnataka). He told he supports "Absentee Voting" and he told he will put a word of other Congress MPs about this as well. He as well said that our request is genuine.

Talked to Secretaries

Ananth Kumar,Shri

• Constituency   : Bangalore South (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Secretary Diwakar - Ananth Kumar Secratary Picked the call and he said please send me an email in regards to this and he will make sure he will pass the entire information to Ananth Kumar.

amdiwakar@gmail.com

Moily,Dr.(Shri) M. Veerappa

• Constituency   : Chikkballapur (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Indian National Congress(INC)
• Email Address : vmoily@kar.nic.in

Secratary Sood - Sir is in his chamber right now. Please call after half an hour and you can directly talk to him in person. Called after half an hour told to email the request to Moily and he will explain the case to him,

vmoily@kar.nic.in

Katti,Shri Ramesh Vishwanath

• Constituency   : Chikkodi (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Secretary Madhuram : 9449006627 - call on this number and you can directly talk to the MP Shri Ramesh. He is in a function today

Jigajinagi,Shri Ramesh Chandappa

• Constituency   : Bijapur (SC) (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Secretary Satyam -  picked up the phone and he told to email RAMESH directly.

Swamy,Shri Janardhana (Youngster)

• Constituency   : Chitradurga (SC) (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Email Address : jswamy@jswamy.com

Secretary Naren  to Shri Janardhana: call on mobile number 9632311259  and he will pick the call. Called on his cell phone many times and it is busy.

Devegowda,Shri H.D.

• Constituency   : Hassan (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Janata Dal (Secular)(JD(S))
• Email Address : haradanahalli@yahoo.co.in

Secretary  Shiva Kumar: Secretary for HD Deve Gowda. Please send an email immediately to this email and he will make sure Deve Gowda will get a copy while going to the parliament. He also told he will read it clearly and explain Deve Gowda about what we are trying to ask. bittalli@yahoo.com

Udasi,Shri Shivkumar Chanabasappa

• Constituency   : Haveri (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Email Address : scu@shivkumarudasi.me

Secretary Kulkani  - picked the call and he told please send an email to Shivakumar on this email ID. He said he actively monitors his emails.

scu@shivkumarudasi.me

Joshi,Shri Pralhad Venkatesh

• Constituency   : Dharwad (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Email Address : pralhadvjoshi@datoone.in

Secretary Santhosh picked up the call and he asked to call on this number 9448283555 after 1.30 PM India time.

harge,Shri Mallikarjun

• Constituency   : Gulbarga (SC) (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Indian National Congress(INC)
• Email Address : m.kharge@sansad.nic.in
• mallikarjunkharge@yahoo.in

Secretary Prakash picked up the call. He told if we can call after 1 hour he will give the call directly to Mallikarjuna Kharge. Phone number is 9980035555(M)

No Response from MPs

Gaddigoudar,Shri Parvatagouda Chandanagouda

• Constituency   : Bagalkot (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Response: No response from any of the phones.

Mohan,Shri P. C.

• Constituency   : Bangalore Central (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Response: A person from his office picked the call. Neither PA nor Mohan PC is not available to take the message.

Gowda,Shri Chandre D.B.

• Constituency   : Bangalore North (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Response: No response from any of the phones.

Angadi,Shri Suresh Chanabasappa

• Constituency   : Belgaum (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Email Address : suresh.angadi@sansad.nic.in

Response: No response from any of the phones.

Kumaraswamy,Shri H.D.

• Constituency   : Bangalore Rural (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Janata Dal (Secular)(JD(S))

Response: No response from any of the phones.

Shantha,Smt. J.

• Constituency   : Bellary (ST) (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Response: No response from any of the phones.

Singh,Shri N.Dharam

• Constituency   : Bidar (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Indian National Congress(INC)
• Email Address : dharamsinghmpbidar@gmail.com

Response: No response from any of the phones.

Dhruvanarayana,Shri Rangaswamy

• Constituency   : Chamrajanagar (SC) (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Indian National Congress(INC)

Response : Heard the whole song of "Sare Jahan se acha" his ring tone. He never picked the call. Enjoyed the song.

Kateel,Shri Nalin Kumar

• Constituency   : Dakshina Kannada (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Response: No response from any of the phones.

Siddeshwara,Shri Gowdar Mallikarjunappa

• Constituency   : Davanagere (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Response: No response from any of the phones.

Muniyappa,Shri K.H.

• Constituency   : Kolar (SC) (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Indian National Congress(INC)
• Email Address : khmuni@sansad.nic.in

Response: Call after half an hour.

Shivaramagouda,Shri

• Constituency   : Koppal (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Response: No response from any of the phones.

Swamy,Shri N. Chaluvaraya

• Constituency   : Mandya (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Janata Dal (Secular)(JD(S))

Response: Great ring tone but no one lifted the call.

Pakkirappa,Shri S.

• Constituency   : Raichur (ST) (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)

Response: None of the phones work.

Yeddyurappa,Shri Raghavendra

• Constituency   : Shimoga (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Email Address : raghuby@gmail.com
• Response: None of the phones work.

Basavaraj,Shri Gangasandra Siddappa

• Constituency   : Tumkur (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Email Address : gsbasavaraj@sansad.nic.in

Response: None of the phones work.

Gowda,Shri D.V. Sadananda

• Constituency   : Udupi Chikmagalur (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Email Address : sadananda.gowda@nic.in

Response: None of the phones work.

Hegde,Shri Anant Kumar Dattatreya

• Constituency   : Uttara Kannada (Karnataka )
• Party Name     : Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)
• Email Address : mpcanara@gmail.com

Response : Did not pick his cell phone

Thanks and Regards

By Sreekanth and TEAM from Bay Area 224.433.3277

Bayarea NRI Voting Rights Drive

Bayarea NRIs are planning to have a mass gathering at Milipitas ICC (India Community Center) this Sunday (Oct 31, 2010) for the cause of "NRI ABSENTEE VOTING RIGHTS". We are inviting many non-profit and cultural organizations and Media partners.

After so many years, Indian Parliament is considering a bill for providing voting rights for NRIs. We need to oppose this bill in its present form as it says "An NRI should be physically be present" on the date of election in his constituency to vote. We want to amend this bill to allow absentee voting rights. We have less time to act as the Parliament Winter session starts Nov 9th. The bill might be passed between Nov 9th and 14th of 2010.

It is impossible for millions of NRIs to travel during elections. Several countries allow absentee voting rights for even local residents. In this meet we will try to send a message to the Government with the help of media and ask for "ABSENTEE VOTING".

See  Namaste Andhra , thatstelugu nri voting rights news and  web dunia: do NRIs have right to vote and get to vote for some more details and articles.

Calling MPs to support NRI voting rights

We are calling M.P.s now to support NRI voting rights. Many M.P.s are appreciate of calling and informing of the opinion. If you would like to participate in this event, let us know. See Calling MPs for more details. It is not very difficult but gives good results.

Calling overseas minister of India

13th October 2010

First Call experience with Secratary, secretary of Overseas Ministry India

http://moia.gov.in/inner_page.aspx?ID1=244

Mr. Raghava R Solipuram spoke to Rama Krishnan secretary of secretary and it was a fruitful discussion. In fact, he agreed that it is a genuine request and suggested the following

1. Come up with the reasons for Absentee Voting
2. Available options and our recommended solution
3. Send in Black and White request too(email,mail,fax) for the minister and secretaries and staff
4. Representing an organisation/group of organisations as an umbrella kind of thing would be good

Mr. Raghava informed him about the website, online petetion and our organisation name as forefront.

Why postal ballot is an option for NRI voting rights