JAMMU: A meeting of International Gujjar Mahasabha (IGM) was held the other day, under the chairmanship of Ch. Rashid Azam Inqulabi in a virtual mode in which the nomads of the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency participated and discussed the move of the Election Commission of INDIA to reschedule the Lok Sabha Election in the constituency.
The polling in the constituency has been scheduled for 7th of May.
The Election Commission of India has sought comments from J&K chief secretary and chief electoral officer for rescheduling the poll after some political parties who are not in the fray, demanded the rescheduling of the election in the Anantnag -Rajouri parliamentary constituency vide their letter no 464/Misc/2024/EPS dated 25th April.
A statement issued by Inqulabi said that Mughal Road is operational at present and there is no difficulty in movement of vehicles.
“All political parties and contested candidates are campaigning freely. The staff of Pir Panjal PWD Division is very active and works professionally, and even if due to rains, a landslide blocks the road, the staff of PWD is in a position to remove the debris from the road within an hour and open the road for traffic smoothly.
“The alternative route to this parliament constituency is also available through national highway from Ramban and Reasi districts. The distance from Anantnag to Poonch via Mughal Road and the alternative route of Ramban/Reasi is almost the same,” said the statement.
It noted that the candidates from Anantnag side had already taken up the matter with the Election Commission for not to postpone the election.
“The process for filing the nomination is already over and now 25 contesting candidates are in the fray and campaigning smoothly, freely without any difficulty of road connectivity. Some political parties and people who are not contesting from the Anantnag -Rajouri constituency demanded for rescheduling of the poll date which is not fair and badly effects on the turnout of the voters because nomad voters starts to move on higher reach of summers in the second week of May 2024,” it said.
“Moreover, in this parliamentary constituency there are about 5 lakhs nomads voters, and they will move to higher reaches in the second week of May 2024. If the election dates are re- scheduled, then 5 lakh nomad voters shall not be in position to cast their votes and this would cause irreparable loss to them. The nomads demanded that the election commission shall conduct the election in Anantnag -Rajouri parliamentary constituency on due dates i.e. on the 7th of May 2024,” it said.
