Over 15,500 Kashmiri Pandit voters eligible to vote in second phase of election

JAMMU: More than 15,500 displaced Kashmiri Pandit voters from across the country are eligible to vote at 24 polling stations in the second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election on Wednesday.

The polling, scheduled to be held in 26 assembly segments of six districts in the Union Territory on September 25, will decide the fate of 239 candidates.

The displaced Kashmiri Pandits will be exercising their right to franchise in the 15 segments of central Kashmir’s Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts.

“Over 15,500 Kashmiri migrant voters are eligible to cast their votes at 24 special polling stations set up in Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi tomorrow for the second phase of elections,” Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Arvind Karwani told PTI.

Karwani, who is supervising the election process, said over 14,700 such voters are registered in Jammu to exercise their right to franchise at 19 polling stations here.

Similarly, over 600 Kashmiri migrant voters are registered in Delhi to cast their votes at four polling stations in Delhi and and over 350 at one such polling station in Udhampur, he said.

Although the majority of Kashmiri Pandit population lives in Delhi and NCR areas, a miniscule number of over 600 have registered for the polling in current assembly elections.

Karwani, who is supervising to facilitate better arrangements and facilities for the displaced community voters, said all arrangements have been made for free and fair polling on Wednesday.

Over 25.69 lakh voters will decide the fate of leaders such as former chief minister Omar Abdullah, Congress Pradesh chief and former minister Tariq Hamid Qarra, Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina, Apni Party chief Syed Altaf Bukhari, ministers Ali Mohmmad Sagar and Abdul Rahim Rather, including four Kashmiri Pandits in the fray. (PTI)