Keeping in mind the problems faced by the displaced new-generation Kashmiri Pandits to vote in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly polls, the BJP Thursday asked the Chief Election Commissioner to allow their online registration as their number is declining fast in the voters list.
Two Union Ministers - Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (MoS), PMO, DONER & DoPT and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MoS, Parliamentary & Minority Affairs, under the banner of Jammu & Kashmir Vichar Manch (JKVM) met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Naseem Zaidi, and brought to his notice “depleting numbers” of Kashmiri Pandits in the electoral roles.
The CEC assured that it would take steps to see that registration of Pandits was facilitated without any difficulties. He also promised, to deploy a senior officer of Deputy Election Commissioner’s rank to oversee and work out the modalities.
It was detailed to the CEC that the filling of the M (Migration)-form by Pandits to prove that they were genuine displaced people from the Kashmir Valley and intend to vote, causes lot of problems to them. “This was particularly true for new generation Kashmiri pandits whose parents had once lived in the valley”, said Anil Baluni, BJP’s Media in-charge who accompanied the delegation that also included, besides the two Union Ministers, JKVM team members Sanjay Ganjoo, Manoj Bhan, Parishit Kaul and Sanjeev Raina.
The cumbersome process of registration had led to “displaced voters decrease” reaching “a dismal number of few thousand from around 2,00,000 prior to displacement.”
“The decrease was progressive with only 1,47,000 voters left on voter list in 1996 that went further down to 1,17,000 in 2002 and even more disappearing from the voter list, down to 71,000 in 2008. It seems the community is being disfranchised under a design”, said JKVM General Secretary Manoj Bhan. He said from around 1,70,000 before 1989 the number of displaced Pandits “is shown as 72793 in 2008.”
To counter the declining registration of Pandits, JKVM demanded a sustained campaigns be undertaken by the Commission to ensure 100% registration of eligible voters, M-From be dispensed with and EPICS (Electors Photo Identity Card) be issued to all voters with their past and present address printed on it.
Besides, JKVM said Voting booths for the community should be increased to make it possible for the voters to reach there conveniently and electoral Rolls of Kashmir valley made available to the community in English or Devnagri.
Barring those in Jammu (where they cast votes in EVMs), the displaced Kashmiri Pandits cast their franchise through postal ballots. The BJP delegation asked CEC that Pandits be allowed their online registration. Most of new generation Kashmiri Pandits have never lived in the Kashmir valley since their parents moved out of it, mostly doing so in 1989-90.