Over 15,500 displaced Kashmiri Pandit voters from across the country are eligible to cast their votes at 24 polling stations in the second phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on Wednesday. Polling in 26 assembly constituencies across six districts of the Union Territory on September 25 will decide the fate of 239 candidates. Displaced Kashmiri Pandits will exercise their franchise in 15 constituencies of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts of central Kashmir.
“Over 15,500 Kashmiri migrant voters are eligible to cast their votes for the second phase of elections tomorrow at 24 special polling stations set up in Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi,” Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Arvind Karwani told PTI. Karwani, who is monitoring the election process, said over 14,700 such voters are registered in Jammu who will exercise their franchise at 19 polling stations here.
Similarly, in Delhi, over 600 Kashmiri migrant voters are registered to cast their votes at four polling stations in Delhi and one in Udhampur. Though the majority of the Kashmiri Pandit population lives in Delhi and NCR regions, a meagre number of over 600 have registered to vote in the current assembly elections.
Karwani, who is supervising the arrangements to facilitate better arrangements and facilities for the voters of the displaced community, said all arrangements have been made for free and fair polling on Wednesday. Over 25.69 lakh voters will decide the fate of leaders like former chief minister Omar Abdullah, Congress state chief and former minister Tariq Hamid Qara, Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina, Apni Party chief Syed Altaf Bukhari, ministers Ali Mohammad Sagar and Abdul Rahim Rather, including four Kashmiri Pandits in the fray.