Away from bullets, no closer to ballot

Over 50,000 voters from border villages in Jammu and Kathua districts no longer stay at home. They escaped to camps from Pakistani firing an...

Over 50,000 voters from border villages in Jammu and Kathua districts no longer stay at home. They escaped to camps from Pakistani firing and shelling that began after Kargil four years ago.

Of these, 30,000 who fled Jammu district want to vote. The district, with 13 Assembly constituencies, is going to the polls in the second phase on September 24. And eight constituencies are located along the LoC and the International Border (IB). District Election Officer Rohit Kansal said he has approached the Election Commission (EC) for permission to set up polling stations in border migrant camps.

There is a catch though. Such polling stations would be set up at camps for only those villages where most residents haven’t returned home yet. According to official sources, migrant voters are not more than 20,000 because many who migrated have already returned home after the situation along the border improved.

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They said residents of such villages who are still put up at camps will have to return home and vote. A survey of all border villages in Jammu has reportedly been conducted for the purpose.

The migrants, however, refute the official claims. Many said they go home to their villages ‘‘only during the day to feed cattle’’. They return to the camps in the evening.

On September 24, Srinagar and Budgam districts too would go to the polls along with Jammu. Arrangements similar to those in Jammu would be made for border migrants in Kathua district that will vote in the third phase on October 1, along with Udhampur, Pulwama and Anantnag.

Migration from the border has been a constant for the last four years. But sources pick out three occasions when large numbers of people quit their villages: during Kargil conflict, attack on Parliament, and escalation of tension at the border. The administration put up these migrants in schools which were vacated for the purpose and at tents across Akhnoor tehsil.