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Allow Ladakhi students to cast their votes Election in Ladakh 4/27/2014 11:37:33 PM Rustam JAMMU, Apr 27: Ladakhi students studying outside Jammu and Kashmir are seething with anger. Their demand that necessary arrangements should be made on time so that they could exercise their franchise and return to the Lok Sabha representative of their own choice has not evoked a positive response from the concerned authorities. People of Ladakh will go to the polls on May 7. There are approximately 10,000 Ladakhi students and scholars who are studying outside the state and at such places as Delhi, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Dharamsala and Varanasi. All of them are eligible voters. They can go to Ladakh by air, but the problem is that it is a costly affair, as a one-way flight Jammu to Leh and vice-versa ranges between Rs 10,000 and Rs 12,000. As for the 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh highway, it is closed for vehicular traffic owing the accumulation of snow at difficult and treacherous Zojila. It is likely to open early next month, but no one predict the date. Hence, the demand of the Ladakhi students for appropriate arrangements enabling them to cast their precious votes. They want the Election Commission to set up polling stations in Jammu. The other day, a number of Ladakhi students wrote a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee and sought his personal intervention to enable them to exercise their franchise. The letter was sent by the All Ladakh Students Joint Action Committee (ALSJAC) - an apex body of students and scholars studying outside Ladakh - to the Union President. The ALSJAC also wrote to the BJP Prime Ministerial, candidate Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and urged them to ask the Election Commission to create polling facilities for them in Jammu. "Every student and scholar from Ladakh knows the importance of his or her vote in the Lok Sabha elections. We have sent letters to Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and the Aam Adami Party, requesting them to make efforts at their own level so that we can participate in this democratic process," Tsering Norphel, an important member of the ALSJAC, was quoted as saying. It is very important to note that these Ladakhi students and scholars could tilt the balance in favour of or against any candidate, as the victory margin of the sitting Member of Parliament Ghulam Hassan Khan in 2009 was just 3,708 votes. The authorities must appreciate the trust of the Ladakhi students in the democratic process and nothing would be more appreciable then that the Election Commission sets up polling station in Jammu.   Share This News with Your Friends on Social Network     Comment on this Story

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