Despite record participation — 47 were in the fray — by the migrant contestants in the Valley this time in the J-K Assembly elections, not a single Kashmiri Pandit managed to win. In the 2002 elections, Raman Mattoo had won the Habba Kadal seat in Kashmir. This time, he, too, lost the election.

The Jammu and Kashmir National United Front (JKNUF), which claims to be the first political party representing the displaced community, has failed to create a niche for itself in the Valley’s political space. The division in the limited electorate of the migrants, good voter turnout in the Valley and the lesser number of the exiled Pandits opting to vote through the M-forms are said to be the factors behind the debacle.

A large number of Pandits joined the fray this time as they felt that if the poll boycott succeeded in the Valley, they stood a greater chance of winning the elections in certain constituencies where the displaced community has a substantial presence. Pandits had a chance of winning a seat in Habba Kadal that had nearly 13,000 migrant votes but the vote got divided among nearly a dozen Pandit contestants.

JKNUF working president A K Dewani held the cumbersome process of filling forms for voting responsible for the lower participation in the eloctoral process.

After the notifications, the displaced people had to opt for voting through either Electronic Voting Machines or through postal ballot. They had to fill separate forms for this purpose. Not all opted to vote and the voting percentage was around 20 to 30 per cent.

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