[Reader-list] Pandits overcome distance and cynicism, join J-K electoral process

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

Pandits overcome distance and cynicism, join J-K electoral process

*Geeta Gupta <http://www.indianexpress.com/columnist/geetagupta/>* Posted:
Dec 17, 2008 at 0119 hrs IST - Indian Express

Link -
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pandits-overcome-distance-and-cynicism-join-jk-electoral-process/399431/
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<http://www.indianexpress.com/news/decks-cleared-for-minority-status-to-jains/373085/>
 *New Delhi:* Pandit migrants living in Delhi for nearly 20 years now are
voting long distance to keep their stake in Jammu and Kashmir alive.

At least 40 people have voted so far in the last five phases through the
postal ballot, and 59 others have already filled their Migrant forms
(M-forms) to cast their votes on Wednesday, when South Srinagar district
goes to the polls in the sixth phase.

Srinagar district has the highest number of Pandit votes at 23,796, most of
who migrated to different parts of the country after violence broke out in
the Valley in the 1990s.

"We are Kashmiris before Pandits. I am very happy that the people of Kashmir
have come out in large numbers to vote this time, despite threats and
boycott calls by the separatists," Rashneek Kher, a 27-year-old Kashmiri
Pandit, said. He migrated with his family from Badgam at the age of 16.
Today, he is married and has a three-year-old daughter. He works with a
multinational company in Faridabad, as head of logistics department. Kher is
registered as a voter in Badgam but says he has never voted. "I will never
vote till I am given a chance to vote in the place where I belong," he said.
Pandit migrants in Delhi feel the entire exercise of voting is futile and
the process too cumbersome. A lot of voters blame the tedious and very
complicated process of filling up migrant forms for the small number of
votes sent. "Not more than 40 people voted in the first five phases. But at
least 59 voters have registered to vote tomorrow by filling up the M-forms,"
an election officer at the Prithviraj Road polling station said.

For the sixth phase tomorrow, Kashmiri Pandits will be able to cast their
votes at two places in Delhi, Kashmir House on Prithviraj Road and the
office of the Deputy Director Horticulture, Shalimar Bagh.

"I am not interested in voting and the entire process is too futile. The
younger generation really doesn't bother about this farce of an election
process. We are anyway a minority and our votes don't matter," Rahul
Pandita, a 32-year-old Pandit migrant living in Delhi for the last 14 years,
said.

Meanwhile, an Internet campaign has been taken up by the Delhi-based
Kashmiri Visthapit Sangarsh Samiti (KVSS), seeking "100 per cent KP voting"
in absentia. The organisation is sending out strong worded emails,
motivating people to check their names in the electoral list and fill in the
M-forms, as their "inaction will only benefit the enemy".

"With over 10 Kashmiri Pandit candidates contesting from various national
parties, it's a win-win situation for us," S K Bhat, General Secretary,
KVSS, said.

Habba Kadal and Amira Kadal are two areas in the Valley that have a strong
Pandit population. As many as 10 Pandit candidates have filed their
nominations from the Habba Kadal constituency, including one from the BJP,
one from the Congress, one from the Lok Janshakti Party, and independent
sitting MLA Raman Mattoo. Amira Kadal too has one Pandit candidate standing
from the BJP, one from the People's Democratic Front.

"Not many people are able to vote as the process of registration is not
technically sound. Also, polling happens on working days in Delhi and most
voters are employed here with the private sector and might not get a day
off," Bhat said.