Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), State election commission have decided to register Kashmiri migrant pandits residing across India as voters.
In this regard, the Government has formed teams who were forced to migrate from the Kashmir valley during adverse conditions to live in Jammu and other parts of the country and are registered migrants.
The teams of the Department of Relief and Rehabilitation Organisation have been dispatched to the valley and visited Mumbai, Pune and Chandigarh. Apart from this, the team will also visit Bangalore, Karnataka, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, etc., to register the Kashmiri migrants residing there as voters.
As per officials, the Government’s aim is to have as many Kashmiri migrant pandits participate in the assembly and parliamentary elections in J&K.
This campaign has been started on April 5, and will continue till April 20 and from April 15 to April 20, relief and rehabilitation organisation teams will visit NCR Delhi.
Sources said the process has already been started in the Jammu region and teams of relief organisations will go door-to-door in areas where Kashmiri migrants are returning to ensure that they are registered as voters.
A total of 22 teams consisting of 50 to 60 personnel have been formed for the Jammu region for the registration of migrant voters.
Commissioner KK Sidha is personally leading a team that will visit Pune and Mumbai and Bangalore in Maharashtra.
Kashmiri Pandits have welcomed this decision of the Government and said that for the first time in 30 years, the Government has taken a serious step to actively involve the displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the democratic process.
Sources said that apart from the 22 teams, two more special teams have been formed which include 16 officers, 56 officials and 50 casual labourers under the supervision of the relief and rehabilitation Commissioner.
All the officers and personnel have been declared as booth-level officers (BLOs) and have been tasked with conducting door-to-door awareness programs and registering Kashmiri migrants in electoral rolls.
Sources added that the entire special summary revision campaign is being supervised by the chief electoral officer, J&K, PK Paul.
It is the Government’s effort that the Kashmiri immigrants actively participate in the democratic process and exercise their right to vote in the constituencies they belong to in Kashmir.
He said that in the upcoming elections if the people of the community participate in voting, they can also become a deciding factor in various constituencies.
(with inputs from ANI)
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