Decode Politics: Why EC has scrapped ‘Form M’ for Kashmiri Pandit voters in Jammu, Udhampur

In a notification, the Election Commission (EC) said on Thursday that Kashmiri Pandit migrants staying in Jammu and Udhampur districts need not fill the “Form M” for casting their votes in their native parliamentary constituencies in the Valley. The EC said they would now be “mapped” with special polling stations to be set up in the zones that they are residing in currently.

It was introduced during the 1996 J&K Assembly elections to enable Kashmiri Pandit migrants to vote in their constituencies in the Valley even while staying in exile. The form is filled by the heads of Kashmiri Pandit migrant families staying at different places in Jammu and elsewhere in the country.

After the announcement of any Assembly or Lok Sabha elections, the eligible migrant voter could collect the “Form M” from the office of Relief Commissioner or their respective zonal officer, fill it, and get it signed by a gazetted officer. They were required to affix their photographs and declare their native place in the Valley before migration and also mention the details of adult members in their families who were eligible as voters.

After the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir in 1989, thousands of Kashmiri Pandit families left their native places in Kashmir and migrated to safer places in Jammu and other locations.

However, even after their migration, they continued to register themselves as voters in their native places in the Valley, hoping to return there in the event of a favourable situation.

As these migrants were from different places in the Valley, the EC introduced “Form M” to identify them area-wise, enabling them to cast a vote for their native constituencies from the places they were residing in.

Yes. Kashmiri Pandit migrants have long been