Srinagar, Mar 22: Girdhari Lal Raina, former MLC and BJP spokesperson for Jammu and Kashmir UT, called on the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of J&K and urged him to expedite the issuance of notifications for voters of the displaced community.
Accompanied by Rajiv Pandita, the election in charge for BJP-KDD, Raina raised several issues concerning the effective participation of the community in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
According to a statement issued here, Raina said, “Over the years, there has been a low turnout of displaced Kashmiri voters in Jammu and Kashmir due to various factors such as inadequate outreach and the voting process itself.”
The former MLC-led team emphasised the need to abolish the M form process arrangements for voting in special polling stations at their current addresses. He highlighted the potential for manipulation of postal ballots, as experienced in past elections, and urged the CEO to authorise the Assistant Returning Officer for Migrants to receive and count postal ballots in Jammu.
The former legislator stressed the importance of providing sufficient time for voters to complete formalities and urged the CEO to eliminate the requirement for attestation by gazetted officers, allowing self-attestation where necessary.
The BJP spokesperson also raised the issue of community-specific outreach and awareness campaigns to educate and motivate voters to increase participation in the election process. He suggested involving community artists and icons in such campaigns.
