ECI abolishes cumbersome procedure of ‘Form-M’ for Kashmiri migrants

Srinagar, April 12: In a major decision to facilitate voting by Kashmiri migrants in the ongoing General Elections 2024, Election Commission of India (ECI) has abolished cumbersome procedure of filling Form-M for displaced people from valley who are residing in Jammu and Udhampur districts.
As per ECI Spokesman, the migrants residing outside Jammu and Udhampur (who will continue to submit Form M), ECI 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 today chaired by CEC Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu,” he said.
The ECI Spokesman said that various representations were received from several Kashmiri Migrant groups projecting the difficulties they face in filling Form-M every election which brings a lot of hassle to them in exercising their right to franchise.
He said that the Form-M procedure subjects these voters to additional bureaucratic hurdles compared to other voters and also the process of filling out the Form-M is often complex and cumbersome, requiring specific documentation, proof of migration status and attestation by a gazetted officer.
Earlier, Chief Electoral Officer, Jammu and Kashmir also submitted his comments to the Commission on 9th April 2024 with due consultation and in full agreement with the political parties.
The spokesman said that commission after taking into consideration the representations received from several Kashmiri Migrant groups regarding the scheme, feedback from the political parties and comments of the CEC UT of Jammu and Kashmir, notified the Scheme for Kashmiri migrants to vote in person at transitory camps and voting by means of postal ballot pertaining to the ongoing General Election to Lok Sabha, 2024,” he said.
The spokesman further said that for 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.
“If there are multiple polling stations within one zone, the zonal officers will designate the intra-zonal jurisdiction for each polling station, taking into consideration the distance and accessibility for each group of voters,” he said.
The ECI spokesman further said that for the migrants who are staying outside Jammu and Udhampur to remove the hassle of looking for a Gazetted officer to attest the Certificate appended with Form M, ‘Self Attestation’ of these Forms can suffice.
“However, in order to avoid impersonation at the Special Polling Stations, they shall be required to produce either EPIC (voter id card) or any of the alternate documents prescribed by the Commission for the identification of electors at Polling Stations,” he said.
An official said that the Postal Ballot facility remains the same as before. Migrants who want to vote via postal ballot need to fill out Form 12 C, regardless of where they live – whether in Jammu, Udhampur, Delhi, Mumbai, Noida, or anywhere else in the country.
This applies to migrants of any age. Even those living in Jammu and Udhampur can use Form 12 C, he said.
The updated plan includes linking all 22 special polling stations (21 in Jammu and 1 in Udhampur) to 21 zones (20 in Jammu and 1 in Udhampur), making sure each zone has at least one special polling station. If a zone has multiple polling stations, the zone officers will assign each station to a specific area to make it easier for voters to reach.
Kashmiri Migrants expressed gratitude to ECI Commissioner for streamlining the M-forms.
Raman Lal Raina, a local from Muthi Jammu told Rising Kashmir that it was the long pending demand of the community to scrap this M forms process.
“Each election we were facing problems and many eligible voters were left out due to these unnecessary things. Now due to this our Younger generation will take part in the voting process,” he said.
Raina said it is a welcome step and we are thankful to ECI for fulfilling the long term demand of the community.
Youth activist Rahul Kaul, a resident from Udhampur said that this decision will ease the burden on migrants and ensure their participation in the electoral process without unnecessary hurdles.
“It is a positive step towards empowering our community and making the electoral process more accessible. It shows that the authorities are listening to our concerns,” he said.
Sunita Dhar, a local from Nagrota said that the self-attestation provision will save time and effort for migrants scattered across different regions. It is progressive move by the ECI, he said.
“As a young voter, it will help in active participation in the elections .Now, migrants can exercise their voting rights more conveniently, ” she said.
During the 2019 elections, around 17,000 M forms were filled out by Kashmiri migrants, but less than seven percent actually voted.