Election Commission Modifies Voting Procedure for Kashmiri Migrants for Lok Sabha Election 2024

A spokesperson for the Election Commission of India said that the poll body has abolished the cumbersome procedure of filling Form-M for the displaced people from valley who are residing in Jammu and Udhampur even as migrants residing outside Jammu and Udhampur (who will continue to submit Form M), the poll panel has authorized the self-attestation of the certificate appended with Form-M.

Hyderabad:In a major decision to facilitate voting by Kashmiri migrants in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024 beginning from April 19, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has abolished the cumbersome procedure of filling Form-M for the displaced people from the valley who are residing in Jammu and Udhampur.

Additionally, for the migrants residing outside Jammu and Udhampur (who will continue to submit Form M), the poll panel has authorized the self-attestation of the certificate appended with Form-M, thus removing the hassle of getting this certificate attested by the Gazetted Officer.

The decision was taken by the Commission after a meeting on Friday chaired by CEC Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.

“Various representations were received from several Kashmiri Migrant groups projecting the difficulties they face in filling of Form-M every election which brings a lot of hassle to them in exercising their right to franchise,” the poll- body said in a statement.

"The Form-M procedure subjected these voters to additional bureaucratic hurdles compared to other voters and also the process of filling out the Form-M was complex and cumbersome, requiring specific documentation, proof of migration status and attestation by a gazetted officer", it added.

As per Poll body, the chief electoral officer, Jammu and Kashmir also submitted his comments to the Commission on April 9, 2024 with due consultation and in full agreement with the political parties.

For the migrant voters of Jammu and Udhampur, all the 22 special polling stations (21 in Jammu and 1 in Udhampur) shall be mapped to camps/zones individually, ensuring that every zone has at least one Special Polling Station.

In case there are multiple polling stations in one zone, the zonal officers shall earmark the intra-zonal jurisdiction for each such polling station keeping in mind the distance/ease of approach for each set of electors.