Expat voters land in large numbers in Kerala

With only a few hours remaining for election day, Kerala’s Malappuram district witnessed a surge in arrival of expat voters en masse from various Gulf countries.

The voters from various constituencies in the district landed here as part of an extensive campaign of various Malayali organisations in the Gulf.

A team of 60 expat votes landed at the Karipur International Airport on Saturday morning in an Air India flight from Dubai. Another team of 52 voters arrived on Friday from Abu Dhabi.

Following close fights between the UDF and LDF in various constituencies in the state, many expat organisations with different political leanings were active in bringing voters to their native constituencies.

They also set up online registration facilities in Gulf countries to enrol the maximum number of expat voters.

Apart from political parties, religious organisation like AP Sunni faction’s ICF are also active in bringing voters home.

This time a relatively strong Left wave across various constituencies, especially in Tanur, had forced the Muslim League’s KMCC to organise a rigorous campaign in the Gulf countries.

As per the latest electoral roll, Malappuram has 3,933 expat voters.

The Tirur constituency tops the list with 1,158 voters and Tanur comes second 566 expat voters.

KMCC sources said more voters will reach before the dawn on polling day. Most of the voters have only a few days off from their work.

The voters have also got huge discounts in air fare during a peak season.

The KMCC team from Abu Dhabi had got more than 50 per cent discountfrom the Etihad Airways. Air India also gave discounts on pre-booked tickets.

pic: 1. KMCC voters arrived in Karipur Airport on Saturday from Dubai.

2. A Muslim league voter from Tanur constituency who arrived with the KMCC team from Abu Dhabi on Friday