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| Candidates vie with one another for seeking support of Pandit voters | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 28-After over four months Kashmiri Pandits are in demand again as the candidates, belonging to different political parties, who are in the Lok Sabha poll fray from Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla constituencies, have started wooing Pandit voters. Most of these voters are residing in camps in Jammu, Nagrota and Udhampur. Political leaders, especially belonging to the National Conference, the Congress, the PDP and the BJP, have been visiting these camps in order to garner the support of Pandit voters.
The PDP candidate in Singer constituency, Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, said that he would be visiting the camps early next month to seek support of the Pandit voters. The PDP patron, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, had already organized a meeting with members of the Pandit community in Jammu recently where he explained the PDP program for ameliorating the lot of the displaced families.
Congress and NC leaders said that "we have established party cells in the camp areas and are in touch with the members of the displaced families. General Secretary All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference, H.L.Chatha, said that "Pandit voters are in demand because leaders of political parties believe that in case of very poor polling Pandit voters could decide the fate of the candidates."
Chatha while giving vent to his anger over deletion of names of several thousand voters from the electoral rolls said that "it is surprising that in Rafiabad Assembly constituency the number of Pandit voters in 2008 poll was 400 and at present it is 16 votes." "Have these over 384 voters disappeared within less than four months?" he asked and wanted the Election Commission to answer his question. He said that more than 50 percent Pandit voters "stand deleted from the voter list since 1996." In support of his contention he said that in 1996 election there were over 67,000 Pandit voters in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency and at present it is 30,000 Pandit voters. He said that in case of Anantnag constituency the number of Pandit voters has declined from 75,000 to 25 000 and in Baramulla it has gone down from 40,000 to 22,000 during the last 13 years.
He said that since the BJP was supporting two candidates in Srinagar and Anantnag constituencies, including A. K. Pandita ,"I have been moving in the camps for securing support for these two candidates." As was in the past Pandit voters continue to be a divided lot. While some support the NC candidates, others plan to vote for the PDP and yet others for the BJP. There are others who are considering the option for voting in favour of Sajjad Lone, who is contesting from Baramulla,as his father, Abdul Gani Lone, had close relations with several senior Pandits belonging to Kupwara and Handwara areas. Sajjad Lone too has sent his close associates to the camps for securing support of Pandit voters.
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