Poor facilities, missing names trigger protests
Sanjeev K Sharma
JAMMU, May 13: The fourth phase of ongoing seven phase General Elections in the country today witnessed protests and resentment by Kashmiri Pandit (KP) voters in Jammu who while joining the Battle of Ballot for Srinagar Lok Sabha (LS) constituency claimed lack of proper management and arrangements at the Polling Stations established in Jammu for them and many of these voters found their names missing from the voter lists but still amidst all this chaos there was an extraordinary enthusiasm among the jubilant first timers and some others who rejoiced after casting their vote and exhibited confidence saying that they have done what was at their end to elect a strong regime in the country.
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The 68-year-old Roop Nagar resident, P.K Peshin visited a Polling Station established at Government Middle School in Chinore at 11 am and after standing in the queue for more than an hour found his name missing in the voter list.
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“I returned home at 1 pm and again visited the Polling Station at 4 pm hoping this time I may find my name in the list but after moving from one official to the other nothing could be done and ultimately I returned home as I was too tired standing in the queue for long and it was a very hot day also,” he informed.
Similar were the complaints from other voters at the Polling Station who informed that there was even no facility of drinking water for them at the voting venue.
However, some women voters at the same Polling Station cast their votes and expressed satisfaction over the arrangements while an elder KP voter said that he has voted because he wants Pakistan to be destroyed for carrying on terrorist activities in J&K and other parts of the country.
Sanjay, 45, a Computer Engineer along with five of his family members visited a Polling Station in Udheywala area to cast their votes but they were frustrated on finding their names missing from the voter list.
“My 67 years old father along with other family members faced the scorching heat for about four hours and after moving from one place to the other we were ultimately allowed to vote,” the Engineer claimed.
Shashi Bala, 45, at a Polling Station in Jagti near Nagrota was unhappy on finding her name missing from the voter list though she had already filled her M-Form but she informed that other four members of her family have cast their votes.
A jubilant young girl, Tina, at a Polling Station housed in the building of Directorate of School Education in Muthi, was a first timer with an appeal to all for participating in the electoral process in world’s largest democracy. Another young girl Shrea Turkey also exhibited similar views after pressing the button on the Electronic Voting Machine against the candidate of her choice.
However, there was a protest by some KPs at the same Polling Station after they found their names missing from the voter lists and absence of essential facilities at the voting place.
Some of the protesters claimed that they even possessed Voter I-Cards and have already filled the M-Forms but still their names were not in the voter lists.
The protesting KP voters whose names don’t appeared in the voter lists also claimed that on the spot decision was not taken by the election authorities for them and they expressed hope that their community members may not face such issues in the remaining two phases of elections in Kashmir.
When contacted Assistant Electoral Returning Officer (AERO) Migrants, Dr. Riaz Ahmed informed that overall poll per cent of KPs for the Srinagar LS Constituency remained about 39 per cent while the poll per cent was 38.73 in Jammu, 51 per cent in Udhampur and 42 per cent in Delhi and the total votes polled overall by KPs remained 6700.
“There were 17240 voters who were mapped while the number of actual voters earlier was more,” the AERO said.
He informed that in Jammu there were 21 Polling Stations for KP voters and two were auxiliary while one Polling Station was established in Udhampur and four in Delhi.
On protest by the KP voters Dr. Ahmed said that on the instructions by the Election Commission of India some modification was done in between and a Draft Roll was made from the Actual Roll.
“We have given time of seven days to the KP voters for filing objections and claims and to correct their names or Polling Stations and those who did so were accommodated,” he said.
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