Amir Tantray
Jammu, May 11: As the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat witnessed intense campaigning in all the 18 Assembly segments, not a single candidate of any major political parties reached out to the Kashmiri Pandit migrant voters residing in different parts of Jammu.
Even the Jagti Township in the outskirts of Jammu city, where the majority of the migrant population live, had no feeling of elections.
15462 Kashmiri Pandit voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the fourth phase of Parliamentary elections for Srinagar seat. They will be casting their votes in 23 polling stations, including two auxiliary polling stations, established by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in different parts of Jammu.
These polling stations have been established in different areas of Jammu district which include Government College for Women Gandhinagar, Indian Institute of Management canal road, Directorate of School Education at Muthi Jammu, Directorate of Economics and Statistics at Janipur, Migrant school Purkhoo, Agriculture complex Talab Tillo, Government mixed higher secondary school Muthi, Migrant school Nagrota, Government higher secondary school (migrant) Jagti-A, Government Higher Secondary school (migrant) Jagti-B, Anuradha higher secondary school Barnai, Agriculture university complex Udhaiywala, Agriculture university complex Udhaiywala (Auxiliary polling station), J&K board of school education Rehari (Jammu-A), Government middle school (migrant) Jagti, Community Hall Jagti, Government Girls Middle School Check Changerwan Chinore, Government Girls Middle School Check Changerwan Chinore (auxiliary polling station), Government Girls primary school Gangyal, Government primary school Ponichak, J&K board of school education Rehari (Jammu-B), Government High School Sagoon Miran Sahib and Government Higher School Channi.
Having 15462 votes of Kashmiri Pandit migrant population, not a single candidate of any political party, contesting from Srinagar seat, visited any of these areas to seek votes.
National Conference (NC) provincial president Jammu Rattan Lal Gupta said, “Yes, the candidate couldn’t come here for campaigning but our leaders were very much involved in the process and sought votes from the Kashmiri Pandit migrant community.”
Reaching out to the KP voters was not a big task for any political party or their candidates as one can easily reach Jammu through different modes of transport including air transport. As compared to Anantnag-Rajouri Lok sabha seat where candidates have been shuttling and reaching out to the people in hills of Rajouri and Poonch districts, reaching out to KP voters in Jammu was not tough.
“Since many of our leaders left the party we are relying on local leaders and migrant cell who reached out to the KP voters and sought votes,” Tahir Sayeed, PDP spokesman said.
