Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, May 5: A total number of 6187 migrants have opted to cast their vote out of 18,257 registered displaced voters in Baramulla -Kupwara Parliamentary constituency, which is going to polls on May 7.
To facilitate the smooth polling for migrants, the election authorities have created 13 special polling booths in Jammu and one in Udhampur. Besides, two special polling booths have also been set up at New Delhi for the migrant voters.
According to ARO Migrants, Sachin Dev Singh, the election authorities have received M Forms of 6187 migrant voters who can cast their vote in May 7 elections.
As per the official data available with Excelsior, the Baramulla -Kupwara and Bandipora Parliamentary constituency, has a total number of 11,89,120 voters and the number of migrant voters is only 18,257. Out of this Kupwara district of North Kashmir has a total number of 8468 migrant voters while Baramulla and Bandipora districts have 8307 and 1482 migrant voters respectively.
The data revealed that among the 15 Assembly segments in the Baramulla Parliamentary constituency, Kupwara Assembly segment has highest number of 3028 migrant votes followed by 2839 in Handwara Assembly segment. Baramulla Assembly segment has 2333 migrant votes while Sopore has 1724, Langate 1488, Lolab 1113, Uri 310, Rafiabad, 581, Sangrama, 677, Gulmarg 2141, Pattan 541, Bandipora 1315 and Sonawari 167. The two Assembly segments of Karna in Kupwara district and Gurez in Bandipora district have no migrant vote as per data.
However, expressing their apprehensions, Kashmiri migrants said that the names of genuine migrants have been erased from voter lists by the authorities over the years as no proper enumeration was made despite the pleas of various organizations of displaced people from Valley.
Challenging the official data, Dr K N Pandita a well known scholar said it is astonishing that out of 12 lakh voters in Baramulla -Kupwara Parliamentary Constituency, the number of migrant votes is only 18,000. He said these were not only Kashmiri Pandits who migrated from Baramulla Parliamentary Constituency but there was a sizable number of Sikhs also who migrated to Jammu and other parts of country due to militants threat in 1989-90. So how can be the total number of migrant votes so less, he asked?
Apprehending a conspiracy, he said it shows that the migrant voters are being erased deliberately and this is a serious issue to which the Election Commission of India should take cognizance.
Alleging that migrant votes have been deliberately erased, H L Chatta, president ASKPC, who hails from Baramulla township and has contested the elections from Valley on BJP ticket twice said that Baramulla Constituency alone had over 5000 Pandit families which migrated in 1989-90 and in last 25 years these families would have doubled and instead of increasing the voters’ number it has decreased considerably as per the voter lists.
Expressing his anguish over the erasing of names of migrants from voter lists, Chatta said that EC should take a cognizance of it and issue directives to State Government to enumerate the voter lists of displaced Pandits as per the census. He said this is a deliberate attempt to show that a negligible number of Pandits’ were living in Valley.
Chatta said that the number of Hindu shrines in the Constituency will be more than the official data of votes. He said 4000 families of Pandits were putting up in Sopore Assembly segment, 3000 in Handwara Assembly segment and over 2000 in Kupwara Assembly segment. But the number of voters as per official records is totally negligible.
The number of migrant voters in the Parliamentary Constituency should not be less than one lakh as per the KP population, he added.
Same views were expressed by NC Minority Cell Unit president Harmohinder Singh. He said 3.5 lakh people migrated from Valley in 1989-90 and voters’ number is even less than one lakh which revealed a conspiracy that the names of migrant voters are deliberately being erased from voter lists.
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