To vote (absentee) or not

I voted in my first UK and Euro elections last week. As a citizen of a commonwealth country and a UK resident, I have the right to vote in UK elections.

Sadly though, I could not vote in the Indian parliamentary elections last month. Not even by postal ballot. India does not allow absentee voting except for defence personnel or citizens who are abroad as employees of the Government of India. Wikipedia has more details on the subject.

There are ethical, constitutional and logistical arguments for both sides of the question. While I understand why it might not make sense to allow non-resident Indians to vote in local elections (living abroad, I may not be aware of the local issues), I am not convinced that the same set of arguments hold when it comes to parliamentary elections. Wherever I may live currently, I am still a citizen of India and carry an Indian passport.

I have already had lengthy discussions about this with my friends. I have also been trying to follow on the web what people think about this. I found this blog post and the subsequent comments quite interesting. Some fellow bloggers at Voters Without Borders have even started an online campaign to try and earn electoral rights for non-resident Indian citizens.

Is the number of Indian citizens abroad not that large enough to matter electorally to any political party in India?