Special awareness camps held for Kashmiri migrant voters in J&K

Jammu, Apr 3 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday launched special awareness camps for Kashmiri migrants in various locations across Jammu and Udhampur districts with an aim to encourage their participation in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Lok Sabha polls in the Union Territory are scheduled to be held in five phases on April 19 (Udhampur) and 26 (Jammu), May 7 (Anantnag-Rajouri), 13 (Srinagar), and 20 (Baramulla). The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

These camps will continue until April 14.

On the first day of the camps, Kashmiri migrants showed great interest, with a significant turnout at migrant camps in Nagrota, officials said.

The camp commandant of Nagrota migrants camp, Vishwinder Gupta, highlighted its importance.

“We are receiving M-forms from Kashmiri migrants for casting their votes. We are helping them fill this form with address proof formalities through ration cards.”

Relief Commissioner Arvind Karwani emphasized the administration’s commitment to ensuring awareness about the voting process among migrant electors. “We have started special awareness camps. The camps are being held in all the four migrant camps and non-camp areas where there is a major concentration of Kashmir migrants in Jammu,” he said.

He said that 1.13 lakh Kashmiri migrant voters are eligible to exercise their franchise at 26 special polling stations set up in Jammu, Delhi and Udhampur or through postal ballots.

The Election Commission announced a comprehensive scheme on March 23, allowing migrants to exercise their franchise through postal ballots and special polling stations in Jammu, Udhampur, and New Delhi.

This scheme is designed for electors of Baramulla, Srinagar, and Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituencies in Kashmir who are temporarily residing outside the valley.

They have to fill up ‘Form M’ for voting in person at these special polling stations.

Any migrant elector, other than those who opted to vote in person, can avail the option to vote through postal ballots by filling up Form 12C.

The administration has appealed to all migrant voters to participate in large numbers and exercise their democratic right.