NAGROTA (JAMMU): Kashmiri Pandit Ramesh Kumar Suri, 55, will be voting for the first time in an election in Jammu and Kashmir since the migration of Pandits from the Valley in 1990, thanks to the Election Commission of India doing away with Form-M for the migrants.
“We used to live near Court Road, Srinagar and my family was among the Pandit families that migrated from Kashmir in 1990 after the eruption of militancy. We have been living in government quarters established for migrant Pandits at Jagti Township, Nagrota since over a decade. During these 34 years, I have never voted in any Assembly or parliamentary polls,” Suri told this newspaper.
He said it was a very cumbersome process to fill the Form-M and follow it up.
“Despite filling the Form-M many times, I could not vote because my voter slip could not be generated.”
Migrant pandit voters are mainly concentrated in the Baramulla, Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajouri LS constituencies. These voters were earlier required to fill out a form that would request the transfer of their vote from Kashmir to a polling station in Jammu, Udhampur or Delhi.
"The process of filling out the Form-M was complex, requiring specific documentation, proof of migration status and attestation by a gazetted officer," said Jagti Tenement Committee Jammu president Shadi Lal.
The Election Commission of India has recently done away with these forms after repeated requests and pleas by the migrant Pandits. Now Suri and many others like him can vote without facing any problems in the special polling stations to be set up for the community at the transit camps.
Shadi Lal says this move by the ECI will show in the voter turn out of migrant pandits.
“The Jagti township comprises of 4500 camp families and 1000 non camp families which house around 30,000 people. There are about 15,000 voters in this township," Lal said.
"Maximum number of votes will be registered in these polls and we are hopeful that our vote will make a difference,” he added.
Ramesh Kumar Kar, a migrant pandit who hails from Dragmulla, Kupwara and is now living in the Jagti township, said this year every migrant Pandit in the township has got the voter slip and everybody is excited to vote.
“Being a voter of Dragmulla, Kupwara, I have to decide the fate of candidates contesting from Baramulla LS seat in north Kashmir. I will definitely cast my vote in favour of the candidate who I think will work for my community and for people of north Kashmir and J&K,” he said.
As the polling date for the nears, some of the contestants are set to visit the Pandit transit camps in Nagrota and other areas in Jammu to seek votes from the migrant Pandit community.
“Some contestants visit the townships to seek votes and then we don't see them for five years. We hope that with greater participation of the community in polling this time, this trend will change for good,” said Kar.
Ashok Dhar, president of Bootanagar migrant Pandit Camp in Jammu said that the EC has made voting easy for the community.
“Due to ease in the voting process, more Pandit voters will exercise their right to franchise this time. There will be maximum participation of the Pandit community in the polls,” he said. “This is a good sign for democracy”.