Among numerous issues that trailed the displaced community from Kashmir in 1990, one was of their voting right for Parliamentary and Assembly elections. A piquant situation developed in which it had to be decided whether a displaced person continues to hold the right to vote from his or her respective constituency when he was not physically present at the site. The controversy raged for some time and then it was resolved that the community could exercise their right to vote away from their respective constituencies. As they did not think situation conducive to their physical presence in the Valley, the Election Commission, in order not to deprive them of their fundamental rights, ordered creating poling centres for them in Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi, the three places where the displaced persons are concentrated. This is a sensible decision and speaks of concerns of the Election Commission of not depriving the displaced persons the right to vote.
However, taking the issue in its entirety, three allied matters have not been addressed by the EC. One is that their electoral rolls have not been updated and the community complains that many eligible voters have been left out. The EC should have conducted a thorough exercise before the commencement of polling that all eligible voters of the community are properly enlisted. This could have been done easily after verifying their registration record as “migrants” with the Relief Commissioner. Secondly, a large number of eligible voters of the displaced community are spread over many cities and towns of the country in search of livelihood outside the three polling stations earmarked by the EC. They should have been allowed to send their ballot paper by mail as is done in the case of military and Para-military personnel who are on duty away from their constituencies. This is also the practice observed in western countries where even the mailing charges are paid by the Election Commission to eligible voters. Thirdly, a very complicated and cumbersome procedure has been set forth for the displaced persons to vote. They are required to present themselves before the ART officials concerned to fill a form, something like identity form, and submit it and then wait for the ballot paper when it is approved. We think this is unnecessary exercise and should be discarded at once. Their entry in the voting list in their original constituencies has been verified; their migration documents are in place and most of them have been provided with migrant identity cards. This is enough proof of identity and the need of filling the M form is only to detract them from voting. For example, the news has come in that against 27,000 eligible voters from Anantnag-Pulwama Parliamentary constituency only 8000 eligible voters have submitted their M forms. The voters would like to be treated as ordinary citizens and they expect that their participation in voting would be very simple, which, however, is not.
The EC should try to find out the reason why barely 31 per cent of eligible voters from Anantnag-Pulwama Parliamentary constituency filled their M forms with the purpose of casting vote on 24th of April, the day voting in Anantnag-Pulwama Parliamentary constituency is scheduled to be held. Speaking objectively, this is a community with high rate of literacy among the voters in the constituency. One expects the voters of the community to be fully conscious of the importance of their vote especially in the present national scenario. That is the reason why the Election Commission repeatedly appeals the voters to come out of their homes and use their vote and thus strengthen the democratic process. The displaced community voters should not be deterred by the complex process through which they are supposed to go while enabling them to cast their ballot paper. National interests and strengthening of democratic dispensation is much more important when the country is going through a very critical period of her Parliamentary history. When it comes to polling, the question of numerical strength of the community or the groups does not matter at all. Indian citizens are supposed to have a fair understanding of broad national interests and the issues that need to be tackled by elected Government. We would like to tell the displaced community to brave all difficulties and come out in large numbers to exercise their franchise. They have a role to play as nation builders as does anybody else.
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