Ludhiana: Three newly naturalised Indian citizens are set to cast their first local government ballots this week in the Khanna municipal council elections, marking the culmination of 25 years of displacement after fleeing Pakistan. A wave of Hindu and Sikh migrants recently gained voting rights following a landmark fast-track citizenship drive.
First-time voters share their stories
Khanna now has 500 new electors, including vegetable vendor Inkari Lal, 48, who received citizenship just days ago after leaving Pakistan with his father in 2001. While other family members were already citizens, Tuesday's municipal vote will be his first time at an Indian polling booth.
"I am happy to get Indian citizenship and the right to vote," Inkari Lal said, though he noted that persistent sewerage blockages and waterlogging in his neighbourhood remain his primary concern.
Transport operator Sikandar Lal, 53, and his wife, Tila Devi, who fled Peshawar in 1998, will also vote in a civic election for the first time. The couple secured citizenship in 2024 following the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). "We are happy that we will vote in the coming elections," Sikandar Lal said. However, his historic first ballot will primarily be to address the sewage overflows in Ward 9 that are affecting his wife's health.
Background of the migrant community
The Khanna region of Punjab's Ludhiana district houses a significant population that migrated from Pakistan. Former municipal councillor Gurmeet Singh Nagpal said: "Most of the 400 families who arrived from the Kohat region of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province across waves in 1957, 1979, and 1998 have now been naturalised."
Gurkirat Singh Kotli, the Congress party's Khanna assembly segment manager, added: "The families who migrated from Pakistan and settled in Khanna mostly live in Ward 9, where they constitute more than 500 voters."
Challenges and hopes
However, some residents like Pujari Lal, a vendor who migrated in 1998, remain without voting rights while their applications are processed. He said: "The families who migrated in 1978 all received citizenship together in 1983. Of the roughly 35 people who arrived after that, mostly Hindus along with some Sikhs, 10 to 12 still await citizenship, but remain hopeful."
"We are happy with the system here," he said, "but only want the waterlogging issue to be addressed." For ex-Pakistanis, holding a voter ID this Tuesday will transform a lifetime of waiting into a single, profound moment of belonging.
