Jammu, Sept 01: An organisation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) on Saturday blamed the Centre and State government for delisting of over one lakh KPs from the voter-list for forthcoming civil polls in Jammu.
All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC) criticised the central and state governments for “hardly doing anything” for Kashmiri Pandit migrants,
ASKPC said that during previous Congress-PDP rule in 2005, they were given voting rights for Municipal polls in Jammu but now denied by the BJP government.
“The government of India (GoI) and Governor rule in J&K has done biggest dis-service and rights violation with displaced Kashmiri migrants. They have denied voting rights under a conspiracy by J&K election department to over one lakh KPs in forthcoming Municipal polls in Jammu in October this year”, general secretary of ASKPC, Dr T K Bhat told reporters here.
Kashmiri Pandits, who are settled in migrants camps in Jammu and also in non-camp areas for past 28 years, have been delisted from voter-lists and denied voting rights in the name of being “migrants” by Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, Bhat said.
“During previous Congress-PDP rule in 2005, we voted in Municipal polls in Jammu and one Kashmiri migrant lady was elected as corporate,” he added.
Kashmiri displaced people living across the country in different state and towns including in Delhi, Pune, Mumbi, Banglore etc., are exercising their right of franchise in civil polls, but in Jammu, their kin are denied right to vote on the plea of being migrant. What type of rule is this by Election Commission of India (ECI), he asked.
“ECI is deliberately denying us right to vote in Jammu in civil polls in October this year under a conspiracy,” he alleged, calling it “biggest human rights violation”.
The municipal elections were last conducted in January-February 2005 and the elected bodies had completed their five-year term in March 2010.
