Election Commission of India
Press Notes

During the recent visits of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners to the State, representatives of various political parties represented to the Commission that clubbing of the polling stations as done in 1996 has put the electors to inconvenience and requested that the polling may be held on the basis of the lists of polling stations approved earlier in 1988.

2. The Commission has considered this matter and decided that at the ensuing general election to the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir the polling stations shall be dispersed and located as far as practicable, at the locations indicated in the electoral roll of 1988, subject to the changes approved by the Commission. This will involve opening up of more than nine hundred additional locations where voters can cast their votes. Efforts will be made to ensure that, as far as practicable, voters are not required to travel more than 2 kms. to reach their polling stations, and not more than 3 polling stations are located in one building.

3. During the general election to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly held in 1996 and the general elections to the House of the People held in 1998 and 1999, the Kashmiri Pandits who migrated to various parts of the country from Kashmir Valley were notified as notified class of voters and were allowed to vote by post. The Commission has received complaints that there was considerable delay in the transmission of these postal ballot papers to the Returning Officers and, as a result, a significant percentage of the notified class of voters was deprived of their voting rights. To obviate these difficulties and to make the voting right of these Kashmiri migrants more effective, the Commission has, after considering the matter, decided to extend the facility of voting in person through Electronic Voting Machines, to this class of notified voters in their own camps at Jammu and Delhi, where they are now living. In the case of other notified voters, living elsewhere, they will have the option to vote by post as earlier.

4. Further, with a view to ensuring free and fair election in Jammu and Kashmir, the electoral rolls of all the 87 assembly constituencies in the State have been computerised in Urdu and copies of the same are being distributed, free of cost, to all recognised political parties in the State. During the visits of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners to the State, there have been requests from some registered unrecognised political parties that they should also be supplied copies of the electoral rolls free of cost. Normally electoral rolls are given free of cost only to recognised political parties. The Commission has, after taking into consideration these requests and other factors, decided as a special case and as a one time measure, that all these registered unrecognised political parties in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, who have legislative presence, i.e., who have even one representative in the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, shall be supplied with one copy each of the electoral rolls, free of cost. This would mean that three political parties, PDP, J & K Awami League and J&K National Panther’s Party shall get this benefit.

5. During the recent visit of the Commission to the State, a common grievance made by several political parties was that whereas the leaders of the ruling party in the State were holding ministerial or other important offices in the State executive and were therefore provided with heavy security which enabled them to move around in the State and undertake electoral campaigns for their party, the leaders of other political parties in opposition were not enjoying any such privileges and they were feeling severely handicapped in their free movement within the State. The Commission considered this genuine grievance of the political parties and held a meeting with the Union Home Secretary wherein its was agreed that the leaders of the other political parties should also be provided with reasonable security cover so that they are also able to take up their election campaigns.

6. On the request of the Commission, the Union Government has now directed the State Government to provide security cover, at the State cost, to one leader of each recognised National and State Party in the State of Jammu and Kashmir in each of the Districts in the valley and in the Districts of Doda, Rajouri, Poonch and Jammu. The recognised parties in the opposition, who are benefited by this order of the Commission are: Bahujan Samaj Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxits), Indian National Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party.

7. The Commission has also announced that it would send its own Observers who are senior civil servants to oversee the election process in the State. In the first phase, twenty hand-picked senior civil servants known capabilities, proven track record and dynamism are being deputed to the State from the coming week. Each district will have one Observer and some larger districts will have two Observers.

(C.R. BRAHMAM)
SECRETARY

July 12, 2002

Source: ECI/PN/29/2002