Amritsar: Election Commissioner Sunil Arora today questioned the Punjab election commission as to why the number of NRI electors in the state was an abysmal 314.  

The election commissioner was here to review various facets of functioning of electoral machinery with the Punjab Chief Electoral officer (CEO), S K Raju, keeping in view of Lok Sabha polls due next year.  

This issue would be reviewed at ECI level after two months, Arora said. Nobody would believe that this number can be so low in a state like Punjab, which has an extensive Indian diaspora in various parts of the world, he said.  

Arora asked officials to ensure large scale awareness drive for ethical voting, besides ensuring registration of each and every eligible person as voter.  

The election commissioner also directed officials to organise meetings with block level officers to further spread the message of ECI at the bottom level.  

He emphasised that every youth in the age group of 18 to 19 years should be registered as a voter. He also asked the CEO Punjab to start an awareness campaign in the educational institutions. PTI