Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 24: Former MLC and JK UT spokesperson of BJP Girdhari Lal Raina has regretted continuation of the old scheme for “Kashmiri migrants to exercise their franchise in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls” as is evident in the notification issued by The Election Commission (EC) of India.
Lamenting on rejection of the demand to discontinue M-Form requirement and attestations by gazetted officers, GL Raina was pained to say that continuation of old scheme will adversely affect voting percentage of the community.
He was speaking during the outreach programme in Om Nagar and adjoining areas of Udhaywala Bohri.
He was accompanied by Chandji Bhat president BJP KDD and Hari Krishan Razdan, general Secretary of KDD.
BJP spokesperson however appealed to the community to participate fully in the democratic process in spite of this huge setback.
Pointing out difficulties and complicacies of the scheme notified by the ECI, Raina said that community being scattered all over the country working hard to earn a livelihood in private sector finds it very difficult to visit election office several times to collect form, get them attested by non-visible gazetted officers, post the form to RO in Kashmir wait for marked copy of postal ballot and resend it back to RO in a short span of time.
He pointed out that notification enjoins upon the displaced voters to send their Form M for voting in person at any of the “special polling stations” or Form 12C for using postal ballots to the ARO concerned so that the documents reach them 10 days before the polling date. This in effect means that voters of Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary seat have to complete the entire process up to 27th of April 2024 which is very difficult.
This is not an easy task to be done given the fact that the community is scattered and will not even know about the scheme in absence of comprehensive reach out policy by the Election Commission machinery. Then there are other issues like the possibility of manipulation of postal ballots as was experienced in the past.
Raina however asked the displaced community not to get deterred by these developments and ensure maximum participation in the electoral process. BJP KDD will on its part be as much helpful as is possible in reducing the difficulties of the voters, he added.
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