The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, February 27, 2003, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

H I M A C H A L P R A D E S H

Franchise denied
Shimla, February 26
A large number of Kashmiri Muslim migrant labourers holding voter identity cards had to return without voting as their names were missing from the voter list in the city, prompting allegations that the ruling BJP had got their names deliberately deleted.

Eighty-year-old Ganga Nisha, who is physically challenged, on his way to cast his vote at the Kandaghat polling booth in Solan district on Wednesday.
— Tribune photo Karam Singh

REGIONAL BRIEFS

YOUR TOWN

Shimla

EARLIER STORIES

	Gift disputed land, Naidu to Muslims February 26, 2003
	Cong charges Centre with discrimination February 25, 2003
	Advani harps on development, security February 24, 2003
	BJP regime corrupt, inefficient: Sonia Gandhi February 23, 2003
	PM feels sorry for Cong, focuses on roads, rivers, rebels February 22, 2003
	BJP govt a failure: Jogi February 21, 2003
	Congress won’t spare guilty: Virbhadra February 20, 2003
	Virbhadra promises probe into corruption charges February 19, 2003
	Gujarat incident raked up to tarnish Cong image: Dhawan February 18, 2003
	Shanta projects Dhumal as CM February 17, 2003
	Amarinder Singh summoned in defamation case February 16, 2003

Franchise denied
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 26
A large number of Kashmiri Muslim migrant labourers holding voter identity cards had to return without voting as their names were missing from the voter list in the city, prompting allegations that the ruling BJP had got their names deliberately deleted.

Mr Mushtaq, who had been casting his vote for the last 10 years and holding an identity card, said only 150 of the around 500 Kashmiri Muslim migrants listed as voters on polling stations 8/57, 8/58, 8/59 and 8/60 in the city did not find their names in the voter list despite all of them having voter identity cards.

Others had similar complaints and all of them showed their identity cards, despite which they had not been listed as voters.

CPM state secretariat member Dr Kashmir Singh Thakur said votes of Muslims had been systematically deleted from the list and those having votes were not being allowed to cast their votes due to minor discrepancies in the names and other details in the voter identity cards. He said as soon as a Muslim migrant entered the polling booth, polling agents of the BJP stopped him from voting on one pretext or the another.