Ease of voting for migrants
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 23: In a major decision to facilitate voting by Kashmiri migrants in forthcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has set up 24 Special Polling Stations in Jammu, Udhampur and New Delhi.
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Like the recent Lok Sabha Election, the ECI has also decided to do away with the cumbersome procedure of filling Form-M for the displaced people from Kashmir valley who are residing in Jammu and Udhampur in Assembly elections even as for the migrants residing outside Jammu and Udhampur who will continue to submit Form-M have been authorized to self-attest the certificate appended with Form-M, thus removing the hassle of getting this certificate attested by the Gazetted Officer.
This was informed by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, J&K in a statement issued on Friday.
“Kashmiri migrant voters, who are residing at various relief camps in Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi and who have opted to cast their votes in person through Electronic Voting Machines in the J&K Assembly Election 2024 can do so at 24 Polling Stations, including 19 in Jammu, 1 in Udhampur and 4 in Delhi,” the statement said.
In Jammu, 19 Polling Stations have been set up at Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu; Indian Institute of Management, Jammu Canal Road, Jammu; North Zonal Accountancy Training Institute, Muthi, Jammu; Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Janipur, Jammu; Migrant School Purkhoo, Jammu; Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Complex, Gole Puli Talab Tillo, Jammu; Govt Mixed Higher Secondary School, Muthi (Lower Roop Nagar), Jammu; Migrant School, Nagrota, Jammu; Government Higher Secondary School, (Migrants) Jagti, Jammu; Anuradha Higher Secondary School Barnai, Jammu; Agriculture University Complex, Udhaiywala, Jammu; J&K Board of School Education, Rehari, Jammu; Govt Middle School (Migrants), Jagti, Jammu; Kendriya Vidyalaya Ban Talab, Jammu; Sant Mela Singh College of Education, Near Digiana Ashram, Jammu; Sarvodya Public School, By Pass Santra Morh, Jammu; Govt Girls Higher Secondary School, Miran Sahib, Jammu; Birla Open Minds International School, Channi Himmat Jammu; and NSM College Anand Nagar, Bohri, Jammu.
Similarly, one such Polling Station has been set up at Government ITI, Udhampur.
To facilitate the Kashmiri migrants residing in New Delhi to cast their votes in person on the polling days during Assembly election on the seats across Jammu and Kashmir, four Special Polling Booths have been established at J&K House, 5, Prithviraj Road, New Delhi; Office of the Deputy Director, Horticulture, Planning and Marketing, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi; Arwachin International School, F Block, Dilshad Garden, Delhi; and Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Paprawat, Delhi.
Continuing with the historic decision taken by the ECI in Lok Sabha Election 2024, the earlier practice of filling of Form-M for migrant electors of Jammu and Udhampur has been done away with. The electors staying in zones and camps will be mapped to their respective Polling Stations by the respective AERO Migrants at Jammu and Udhampur.
The draft roll extracts mapping migrants electors residing in various zones in Jammu and Udhampur to the respective Special Polling Stations shall be published soon by the concerned AEROs and any addition, deletion and corrections shall be allowed for a period of 7 days.
Consequent to this, the final photo electoral roll extracts shall be published for each Polling Station, based on which the migrants electors shall be allowed to vote at these Special Polling Stations like any other voter by producing the EPIC or any of the 12 alternate photo identity documents notified by the Commission in this regard.
Similarly, for migrants residing outside Jammu and Udhampur, they can now self-certify Form-M, instead of getting it attested by a Gazetted officer or other authorities.
“Those voters who are required to fill Form-M i.e. those residing outside Jammu and Udhampur, who wish to exercise their franchise in person should intimate details of the electors in their families to the Assistant Commissioner, Relief (Migrant), Jammu; Assistant Commissioner, Panchayat, Udhampur; Deputy Director, Horticulture, Planning and Marketing, Delhi; and Deputy Secretary, office of Resident Commissioner, New Delhi in prescribed Form-M.
Besides, all migrant voters other than those who opted to vote in person have the option to vote through postal ballot papers. They may apply for the postal ballot paper in the prescribed Form 12C appended to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 available in the offices of the Assistant Returning Officers.
In addition, the migrant electors residing at various places other than Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi can also download Form-M and Form 12C from the ECI website and after filling such forms can be got verified from the Electoral Registration Officer of the areas where he/she is residing.
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