‘Postal ballot through Form 12C to continue for all whosoever wishes to’
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: As part of the Commission’s ongoing efforts to make electoral participation more inclusive and hassle-free for all sections of society, the Election Commission of India ordered suitable changes to the existing Scheme of voting by Kashmiri Migrants at Special Polling Stations. As per the new arrangement, the Kashmiri Migrant Electors who are in various Camps/zones at Jammu and Udhampur shall no longer need to fill FormM, instead, they shall be mapped with the Special Polling Stations falling in the zones they are registered/residing.
In addition to this, the Commission also eased the process of filing Form M by those migrants who are staying outside Jammu and Udhampur, i.e. Delhi and other places in the rest of the country, by allowing ‘self-attestation’ instead of the earlier required certification by Gazetted officers, however, they shall be required to fill Form M as earlier. It is mentionable fact that there are 4 Special Polling Stations for migrants as per past practice.
There is no change in the Postal Ballot facility and the same continues to be as notified earlier. They have to fill Form 12 C for seeking postal ballot. Form 12 C can be filled by any migrant, no matter where he is residing – at Jammu / Udhampur or Delhi, Mumbai, Noida etc.
The amended arrangement envisages the mapping of all 22 special polling stations (21 in Jammu and 1 in Udhampur) to the 21 Zones (20 in Jammu and 1 in Udhampur) 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. The current mapping has been annexed with the order is as under:
Consequent to this, the electors staying in these zones shall be mapped to the respective polling stations by the respective AERO (Migrants) at Jammu and Udhampur, who shall also cull out Electoral roll extracts corresponding to each of these Special Polling Stations out of the basic electoral rolls of their respective assembly constituencies.
The order also provides for the publication of draft Electoral Roll Extracts for each of the Zone by the respective AERO (Migrants) at Jammu and Udhampur calling for objections from migrant electors, within 7 days in case:
a. there is any omission of any eligible name in the draft lists
b. s(he)wishes to opt for voting through postal ballot
c. s(he) wishes to vote at the original polling station in Kashmir valley,
d. those who have already submitted their Form M, choosing a Special Polling Station that is different from the one allotted in the draft and wish to retain the same.
After due disposal of all objections/claims, the Assistant Returning Officers (Migrant) shall notify the final Electoral Roll Extracts for each Special Polling Station and the same shall be used at these polling stations on the day of poll. Also in order to ensure no elector who opt for postal ballot by filling Form 12 C gets voting opportunity at these Special Polling Stations located at Jammu, Udhampur or Delhi, the ARO (Migrants) Jammu who is nodal officer for Postal Ballot under the scheme, shall ensure that in case form 12 C is received from any of the electors and postal ballot has been dispatched, marking of “PB” shall be made against the name of the said elector in the corresponding Electoral Roll Extracts.