Election Commission of India has assured the nation that it will try to ensure maximum turnout for polling to 16th session of the Parliament. It means that the Commission wants all eligible voters to cast their vote and elect members for the Parliament. An average of 70 per cent turnout is commendable. There are regions where the turnout has been more than the average for various reasons.
In terms of election, Ladakh region has some peculiarities which election authorities as well as the Government have to take into account. Firstly, it is accessible through road hardly for six months of summer. During winter when there is snowfall and cold all over these Himalayan ranges, the road is blocked and reopens only in second week of May each year if the Border Roads Organization gives the signal.
Second significant thing is that in absence of higher and professional educational institutes in Ladakh, thousands of boys and girls from the region seek admission in educational institutes in the plains of India. Generally they come to Jammu, Chandigarh, Shimla, Delhi and Bangalore where they find facilities for continuing their educational career. More than ten thousand Ladakhi students are reported to have sought admission in institutions in these areas. These students come from financially weaker sections of society. Their parents and stewards have to make huge sacrifices for providing them means to continue their education. They live in rented rooms, often two or three of them together. Above all, they are most docile and disciplined students who are deeply dedicated to their studies and career making. It is a pity that no leader from any one of the three regions of the State ever took cognizance of the difficulties these students are facing and how the Government could extend some support to them. These students are a big asset to the nation because they are the instruments of transformation of Ladakh from a backward to a developing and progressive northern most region of the country.
These students are keen to actively participate in the ongoing Parliamentary election process. But they are handicapped from reaching their respective places in Ladakh to cast their vote. The Zojila pass remains closed. Air passage is too expensive for the students to bear, and they don’t have adequate time to be away from their studies for a week or ten days. The only alternative is that they should be provided the facility of casting their votes in Jammu and Delhi at selected polling booths on the day of voting after their identification has been cleared. It will be great injustice to them and also violation of fundamental rights if they are not provided adequate facility to cast their vote. The EC has announced creation of several polling booths in Jammu for Kashmiri displaced persons. It means the EC can exercise powers and precedence in the case of Ladakhi students also. Their demand expressed through All Ladakh Students Joint Action Committee meeting held in Jammu University Campus is genuine and the EC should have no hesitation in allowing them to exercise their right to vote. If the EC can arrange voting facility for remotest villagers in an isolated habitat on mountain heights with just eight or ten voters to exercise their right, why should it not provide facilities under same philosophy to ten thousand students from Ladakh?
Facilitating these students to exercise their right to vote is not a vote bank syndrome. It is a matter of the right provided by the Constitution of India to the people of the country including Ladakh region. However, this apart, there is another reason why the EC should take special note of the demand of Ladakhi students? Ladakh is a strategic region with borders touching on Chinese border. China keeps a close watch on what is happening in Ladakh. She has her own reasons to do so. But for us, it is important to send a message across the border that Indian democratic system reaches even the farthest Indian citizen in terms of physical distance. In a democratic election campaign each vote carries the tag of crucial and decisive vote to give direction to the country. Therefore, we appeal to the Election Commission of India to consider a very genuine request of Ladakhi students studying in educational institutions outside Ladakh. They want to be part of national mainstream and not to be left out and sidelined.
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