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| About 10,000 migrants cast their votes out of 81,000 voters in 3 phases | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 9: About 10,000 Kashmiri migrants cast their vote in the three phases of elections held in Valley out of 81,000 registered migrant voters in Valley. The KP leaders attribute the low turnout in the voting by migrants was due to cumbersome process adopted by the Election Commission of India for voting. This forced majority of displaced people not to take part in election process as no body was ready to waste days together from relief organisation to Zonal offices for bringing M Forms filling them and depositing them back in their respective zonal offices. The Kashmiri Pandits right from 1996 have been demanding simplifying the election process for the displaced people so that they can cast their votes without any problem. But the Election Commission has never found a solution to the problem and adopted the cumbersome procedure which is not acceptable to migrants, said Kundan Kashmiri, president Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC). He said it is not possible for a migrant to make rounds in the election office in relief organisation for taking the M Forms and then depositing them after verifying the same with voter lists. This is the work of Government as it is making the voter lists of other voters available on the same analogy the voter lists of migrants can also be made available at concerned zonal offices where they can cast their vote, he added. He said one does not know what problem Government was facing in adopting this procedure and showing its rigidity over the issue. In all elections held in J&K since 1996 the voting percentage of migrants was negligible, he added. Kashmiri said that it indicates that the Government itself was not interested that the exiled people from Valley should be part of democratic process in the State. This is evident from the fact that from over two lakh KP voters their number over the years was brought to 81,000 only which is a cause of concern. Sharing his views Veer Saraf convener RIK said that the number should have increased since 1990 as their is always upward trend in population but in case of migrants it has decreased.
This is a deliberate attempt on the part of State Government and Election Commission of India (ECI) was stamping it to give the impression that the total population of Pandits was less than one percent in the Valley, he added.
It may be recalled that in Anantnag -Pulwama Constituency which as per records has 27,000 migrant voters only 4000 exercised their franchise on April 24 while for Sringar Constituency out of 36,000 migrant voters only 3000 exercised their franchise on April 30 and same has been the case with Baramulla Lok Sabha seat where out of 18,000 registered migrants only 3000 exercised their franchise during May 7 elections. However many migrants have complaints that their votes were erased and their names did not exist in voter lists despite filling up M Forms, said Saraf. This is a serious issue and ECI should take note of it, he added. |
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