Voters stand in a queue to cast votes at a polling station during the first phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, in Anantnag district of J&K, Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Srinagar: Following the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 in August 2019, thousands of refugee families from Pakistan, mostly Hindus, are set to vote for the first time in the ongoing assembly elections.
Known as West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs), these families migrated from West Punjab, what is now Pakistan after the 1947 partition.
Primarily settled in the border areas of Jammu, the WPRs previously participated in parliamentary elections but had never voted in assembly elections due to their lack of state subject status.
They first exercised their voting rights in the 2020 district development council (DDC) elections. The refugees were not only given the domicile certificates, they were also paid financial assistance of Rs five lakh per family by the government.
Official data indicates that 5,764 WPR families settled in Jammu in 1947, a number that has since grown to over 20,000 families. For many in the WPR community, receiving voting rights feels like a celebration.
Labhu Ram, president of the WPR Action Committee, stated they plan to mark this milestone with traditional dishes like puri-halwa and sweets.
Des Raj, a WPR member, expressed the community's long-standing sense of disenfranchisement, saying, “We lived as second-class citizens without the power to choose our representatives. This fundamental democratic right was taken from us by those who now claim to strengthen democracy.”
To further empower the WPR community, two assembly seats have been reserved for them, with the Centre nominating the members.
Additionally, the Valmiki community, brought to J&K in 1975 from Punjab, has been granted permanent resident certificates. Previously, their descendants could only remain in J&K if they continued specific occupations as scavengers or safai karamcharis.
Following the scrapping of Article 370, both WPRs and Valmikis can now purchase land, apply for jobs, and contest elections, with Valmikis also able to change their occupations.
The assembly elections mark the first such event in Jammu and Kashmir in a decade. The first phase of polling took place on September 18, with the second and third phases scheduled for September 25 and October 1, respectively. Counting of votes will occur on October 8.