His pursuit for education and small businesses took him to Australia nearly two decades ago.

His dream to be the voice of Indian-origin people has now made Chennai-born Karthik Arasu to run for Australian Senate election.

A former resident of Choolaimedu in the city, Mr. Arasu has become the first Indian-born independent senate candidate from Victoria in Australian Federal Elections 2016.

Techies in campaign

What’s more interesting is that a team of techies from Chennai are involved in his digital campaign.

Speaking to The Hindu over phone after a long campaign day in Victoria, Mr. Arasu said: “I started networking with Indian-origin people for my business in Australia and learnt about the issues of migrant population, especially of Indian origin. There was hardly any representation of Indian origin people in Australian politics and I decided to contest as friends encouraged me.”

Mr. Arasu, a manufacturing engineer, pursued his masters in Swinburne University and opened service station on contract with United Petroleum and also trained people in the small businesses. “Contesting in the election will be an opportunity to put forth issues of migrant population. My goal is to gain respect for the Indian-Australian community and other ethnic communities through better representation and encourage inclusive politics,” says Mr. Arasu.

The Senate is the upper house of Australian parliament and its representatives are chosen through direct voting. With most of his family members in Chennai, Mr. Arasu visits India every year.

Dedicated website

S. Suman Kumar, who is heading the digital campaign, said: “Six of us are managing the campaign online through a dedicated website and reach out to Victorians through social media. We got connected to Arasu through a friend. The only issue is the difference in time at both countries.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by K. Lakshmi / Chennai – June 20th, 2016