Gujjar-Bakerwal communitydismayed over deferment

Over 1 lakh herdsmen can no longer stop annual migration of livestock to high altitude, inaccessible pastures

Srinagar: The Election Commission of India’s decision to defer polling in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency has virtually disenfranchised a sizable section of the nomadic population. Over different representations from some political parties and candidates, coupled with a report from the Union Territory administration, the ECI on Tuesday ordered postponement of the date of the polling from the 7th of May to the 25th of May.
President of the BJP Jammu and Kashmir Ravinder Raina, Imran Raza Ansari of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (PC), President of the Apni Party Syed Altaf Bukhari and three contesting candidates had submitted separate representations to the ECI, seeking rescheduling of the date of polling in Anantnag-Rajouri. According to them, some roads, including the Mughal Road, which connects the Kashmir valley to Jammu’s Rajouri-Poonch districts, had remained “badly affected” due to inclement weather and were “inaccessible” for the campaigners and the voters.
Those who submitted such representations included Advocate Mohammad Saleem Parray, the candidate of Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP).
On 25th of April, the ECI sought a report with regard to the climatic and communication conditions and logistics in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency from the Chief Secretary and the Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir.
Immediately after the ECI’s communication appeared in the social media, three former Chief Ministers—Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) opposed any move to reschedule the date of the polling. In their statements and separate representations to the ECI, the NC’s and the PDP’s candidates, namely Mian Altaf Ahmad and Mehbooba Mufti, asserted that neither the campaigners nor the voters had any problem with the originally scheduled date of the polling.
The PDP and the Congress-backed NC candidates maintained that they had been smoothly carrying out their election campaigns in all the 18 segments of the constituency. They argued that only the UT’s principal political parties, who were contesting the elections and had no objections to the already notified date, were entitled to make representations to the ECI.
Both Omar's NC, supported by Congress and CPI (M) and Mehbooba’s PDP asserted that neither the BJP nor the PC was contesting the elections in Rajouri-Poonch. They asserted that one of the candidates mentioned in the ECI’s communication to the J&K Government had neither moved out of his home nor attempted to run any campaign.
On Tuesday, 30th of April, the ECI however decided to postpone the polling from 7th of May to the 25th of May. It said in a communiqué that the polling in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency would now be conducted in the 6th phase.
The ECI’s notification evoked negative reactions from most of the Gujjar and Bakerwal leaders and different WhatsApp groups of the twin Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities. Some of the negative reactions also came out from the Pahari community which has been granted the ST status by the BJP Government at the Centre early this year.
The nomadic Gujjar and Bakerwal communities are heavily concentrated in the seven Assembly segments of Jammu’s Rajouri and Poonch districts, which have been lately clubbed with the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. The communities also have a substantial presence in at least three of the South Kashmir segments. On the other hand, over 75 percent of the Pahari population lives in the Rajouri-Poonch belt.
A Jammu-based senior journalist said that the ECI’s fresh notification had drawn negative reactions in all the WhatsApp groups of the nomadic community.
“The ECI notification has stripped the entire migratory population of its right to vote. It will affect more than 100,000 voters”, said the journalist. According to him, the ECI decision was “incomprehensible” as the authorities were well aware that a large chunk of the Gujjar and Bakerwal population, as also a section of the Pahari community, sets out for high altitude and inaccessible pastures of their livestock latest by 7th of May every year.
The nomadic population with their herds of livestock stays at their dhoks and traverses their usual migration routes from Nowshera in Rajouri to Sonmarg in Kashmir.
“It was a collective decision of the ST communities to withhold the annual migration till the 7th of May. They, particularly the Paharis, were enthusiastic to cast their votes on the scheduled date of the polling before leaving for behaks with their herds. Now everybody of them will set out from tomorrow and none of them would be able to exercise his right to franchise”, added the journalist.
He said that the communities could not defer their migration any more as the maize plants were already over 12-15 inches high. Livestock herds cannot be moved during the standing maize crops. “This is why they set out around 1st of May and return only after the harvesting”, he explained.
Advocate Zulkarnain Choudhary of Rajouri argued that there was no point in postponing the polling as, according to him, nobody would be affected by the original schedule. “All the key contestants carried out their campaigns smoothly. They include Mehbooba Mufti and Mian Altaf. Since the voters of the 11 segments of Kashmir had to cast their votes in their respective areas and those of the 7 segments of Jammu in their own areas, nobody would have been affected by any disruption of traffic on the Mughal Road”, Zulkarnain said.

Updated On 5/1/2024 12:46:32 AM