RIYAZ UL KHALIQ
SRINAGAR
As the fourth phase of elections came to an end on Sunday evening, total of 5169 Migrant Votes (MV) were polled in all the eight assembly constituencies of Srinagar district.
With Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) eyeing to open its account in Kashmir region by banking on migrant Pandit votes, majorly in Habba Kadal assembly segment of Srinagar district, the details given by government present a different version apparently halting BJP’s dream.
Giving details of migrant voters, CEO J&K, Umang Narula, said that there are total of 31000 migrant voters but only 9638 persons had filled ‘M-Forms’. “Out of 9638 votes, 5169 migrant voters cast their ballot,” he said.
The BJP which sweeped Lok Sabha polls in mainland India in summer and won in two states thereafter has put all its efforts to open its account in Muslim dominated Kashmir with PM Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, HM Rajnath Singh, FM Arun Jaitley, MoS Jitendra Singh holding rallies in Srinagar and other areas themselves one after the other besides running a broad PR campaign.
The BJP was eyeing the boycott factor majorly in Habba Kadal segment which witnessed a polling percentage of 11.62 in 2008 and 21.01% on Sunday elections with an increase of around ten percent. However, only 2817 Migrant Voters cast their ballot in the segment clearly showing that the BJP’s march to Kashmir comes to an end with this phase of elections.
Constituency M V Polled
Hazratbal 360
Zadibal 77
Eidgah 68
Khanyar 290
Habba Kadal 2817
Amira Kadal 837
Sonwar 236
Batamaloo 484
