10 lakh J&K voters without EC cards

Though Kashmir is ahead of other parts of the state in total population, most of the districts in the Valley have a low electoral population ratio than expected.

Official documents show that against the expected electoral population ratio of 62 per cent in Srinagar district, the actual electoral population is 46 per cent, leaving a huge gap of 16 percentage points.

The summer capital with eight Assembly segments has an electorate of 5,91,977 in a total projected population of 13,17,860.

Neighbouring Ganderbal district has 45 per cent electoral population against the expected electoral population of 52 per cent. The district with a population of 3,26,404 has 1,50,976 voters, the documents say.

In south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, which sends six MLAs to the state Assembly, the total electoral population is 46 per cent against the expected 51 per cent.

North Kashmir’s Bandipora district has 49 per cent electoral population ratio compared to the expected 54 per cent.

North Kashmir’s frontier district Kupwara,  which witnesses high turnout during elections, has 40 per cent actual electoral population against the expected 44 per cent.
In south Kashmir districts of Pulwama and Shopian, the electoral population is three percentage points lower than the expected population.

The electoral population ratio in Pulwama is 53 per cent against the expected 56 per cent. In Shopian, the expected electoral population is 57 per cent while the actual ratio is 54 per cent.

In north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, against the anticipated 55 per cent, the actual electoral population is around 53 per cent.

According to the latest summary revision undertaken by the Election Commission, the total electoral population of J&K is 69 lakh. Of this, Kashmir region has 35.96 lakh, Jammu 31.76 lakh and Ladakh 1.60 lakh.

Jammu and Kashmir chief Electoral Officer Umang Narula admits that electoral population ratio in Kashmir is low. “There could be several reasons for it. One of them could be that people are not enlisting themselves as voters,” he said.

Meanwhile, Election Department is yet to provide Electoral Photo Identity Cards, an authentic proof for exercising the right to vote, to an electorate of almost 10 lakh.
Official documents show of the total electoral population of the state, the State Election Department has issued the EPIC cards to only 60,23,163 persons.

The number of voters without EPIC cards is 9,09,955 even as the polls draw nearer.
The total electoral population of J&K which consists of six Lok Sabha seats and 87 Assembly segments is 69,33,118. In Kashmir, the total number of electorate is 35,96,796 while in Jammu the voters’ population is 31,76.373.