Hope new representative will take up our rehabilitation issue: KPs
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Nov 11: There was nearly about 28 percent turnout of migrant voters in Budgam Assembly segment by elections of Kashmir valley at specially established 22 polling booths in Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi NCR today.
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According to officials, out of total 655 migrant voters who had opted to cast vote in by-poll for Budgam Assembly segment, only 182 turned out for voting at 22 specially designated polling booths in Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi NCR.
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Out of 22 polling booths, 18 were established at Jammu, one at Udhampur and three at Delhi NCR. However, as usual in the general elections, the voting turnout was very low in this by election too.
Officials said no vote was polled at polling booth in Government Women College Gandhi Nagar out of 27 registered voters. Likewise no migrant turned out to cast his vote at the specially established polling booth at JKBOSE, Rehari Jammu which had 42 registered votes of Kashmiri migrants. Also no migrant came to cast his vote at Birla Open Minds /JP World School Channi Himmat, which had eight registered voters.
The highest number, of 31 votes, among migrants out of 69 registered voters were polled at polling booth in Government Higher Secondary School Jagti which was followed by 21 votes each at polling booth of KV Bantalab and Sarvodhya Public School Santra Morh, Jammu.
Eighteen votes were polled at polling booth in Agriculture University Complex Udheywala, Jammu, 14 at Government Middle School Jagti Jammu, 11 in Anuradha Higher Secondary School Barnai Jammu, 10 in Migrant School Nagrota Jammu, five in Government Higher Secondary School, Roop Nagar Jammu, four in polling booth at Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Complex Gole Gujral Jammu.
One vote out of six votes was polled in polling booth at Migrant School Purkhoo and four votes were cast at Directorate of Economics and Statistics Janipur, Jammu where 15 migrants had opted to cast their vote.
Similarly two migrants turned up to cast their vote at North Zone Accountability Training Institute Muthi where 34 migrants had opted to cast their vote. Twenty one migrants cast their vote out of 37 at KV Bantalab Jammu, six migrants turned up to cast their vote at Polling booth in Sant Mela Singh College of Education, Digiana, Jammu where 39 migrants had opted to cast their vote.
Six migrants turned up to cast their vote at polling booth in Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Miran Sahib, while three migrants cast their votes out of 10 registered voters at polling booth in NSM College/ Mount Litera Zee School Anand Nagar Bohri.
Officials said 11 migrants cast their vote out of 16 registered voters at specially designated polling booth in Udhampur while 10 migrants turned up to cast their votes at three specially designated polling booths at Delhi NCR out of 24 voters.
In Delhi NCR three specially polling booths were designated at JK House, New Delhi, Government School Najafgarh and Shalimar Garden. This was disclosed by Arvind Pangotra, ARO Delhi.
The migrants who cast their votes at different polling booths in Jammu said that they hope their elected representative will also take up their pressing demands in Assembly and before the Government for settlement.
Bansi Lal Raina, a migrant who had come to cast his vote at Nagrota polling booth said, though they are putting up in a camp at Jammu still they cast their vote for the Valley candidate with a hope that he will spare his time and look into the pressing problems of migrants of his constituency and not abandon us like previous representatives.
Similar were the views of Lovely, a female voter at the same booth. “We hope our problems are solved, we are out of our native land from last 36 years and we crave for return. We faced many hardships over these years in turmoil but except hollow promises we got nothing’’ she added.
She said their main demand is return and rehabilitation in their homeland Kashmir with honour and dignity and they hope that their public representatives without party politics will take up this issue on priority.
Pinco Raina, a migrant youth who after casting his vote while talking to this reporter said, “We voted with the hope that our new representative will talk about our dignified return and rehabilitation in Kashmir. During last 36 years, this demand was not paid any heed by successive Governments but we are hopeful that present dispensation will do justice to us’’, he added.
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