Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 12: Major political parties as well as social organizations today slammed Jammu and Kashmir administration’s order on registration of outside voters (living in J&K for last one year) in the voter lists of the UT whereas J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina said the guidelines on registration of outside voters are in accordance with the Representation of the People Act.
Reacting to the order, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the Centre’s “colonial settler project” has been initiated in the region. “The ECI’s latest order for registration of new voters makes it clear that Government of India’s colonial settler project has been initiated in Jammu. They will bear the first blow to Dogra culture, identity, employment & business,” Mufti tweeted.
The National Conference (NC) claimed the BJP is “scared” of the elections and knows it will lose badly. “The Government is going ahead with its plan to add 25 lakh non-local voters in J&K and we continue to oppose this move. BJP is scared of the elections & knows it will lose badly. People of J&K must defeat these conspiracies at the ballot box,” the NC said in a tweet.
The order was also denounced by NC leader and MP Anantnag Hasnain Masoodi and Party’s provincial president Jammu Rattan Lal Gupta. In a statement Masoodi, who is also the convener of 14-member committee constituted by the political parties that attended the meeting at Jammu in September to discuss the inclusion of non-local voters, said the Order is open-ended and designed to pave the way for inclusion of non-locals not “Ordinarily residing” in a Constituency in the voter list. Masoodi has said that the Committee will shortly meet and discuss the matter and decide on response and strategy to meet the challenge. Rattan Lal Gupta said the Order undermines the exclusive democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Former Congress leader and Democratic Azad Party chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad said the order would increase social tensions in J-K. “We will always oppose making a non-resident a voter because Article 370 biggest benefit was that outsiders will not become voters here. This is not right, not right for the State and it will increase social tension,” Azad told reporters.
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister said that in its hurry to change the demographic profile of J&K State, seeking to serve its evil design of changing the Muslim majority character of the J&K, Government of India has taken a potentially provocative step of declaring people eligible for voting even if they have been residing in J&K for just one year. “If the latest unconstitutional measure taken by the BJP Government internationalizes the matter, responsibility for that will rest with the Central Government,” he added.
“The cat is out of the bag finally and we will not allow this (giving voting rights to non-locals) to happen. We are against such a move because it is a conspiracy hatched by BJP to divest locals of their rights and control power with the support of outsiders,” J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool Wani told reporters in Jammu while reacting to DC order on registration of new voters.
The Peoples Conference said in a statement that the Jammu DC order “reinforces the apprehensions in the minds of locals that outsiders are being enabled to register as voters to change the demographic profile of J&K”. It urged the Election Commission of India as well as the J&K administration to come clean on the matter.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former minister Harsh Dev Singh, however, accused the BJP of misrepresenting and misinterpreting the Representation of Peoples Act (RPA) to justify the inclusion of non-local voters. He said that nowhere does the RPA state that the voter of one State/UT can get himself registered as a voter in some other State/UT for elections to the legislative assembly of that State/UT.
“We welcome giving voting rights to Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Balmiki and Gorkha community, but the decision to give voting rights to non-locals camping in Jammu and Kashmir for just one year cannot be tolerated,” Shiv Sena leader Manish Sahni said. He warned that all the opposition parties are united over this issue and a “mass movement” will be launched against any such attempt.
Terming the DC order as arbitrary, CPI(M) leader Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami said that it is beginning of a wider plan to reduce the weightage of locals in order to change electoral demographics. All parties and civil society groups must reject this arbitrary inclusion of no locals, he asserted.
Reiterating that voting rights to ordinary residents of J&K is bound to change peculiar demography and special identity of the local people, chairman of JK People’s Democratic Front said that the move is against cherished dream of Maharaja Hari Singh about Dogra pride. He asked the J&K Administration to revoke the decision at the earliest.
Mission Statehood president Sunil Dimple led a strong protest demonstration on Amphalla-Janipur Road against the J&K Government order to tehsildars to register outside voters living for one year in the UT in the J&K voter lists. The protesting people burnt the copies of Government Order, while raising slogans against J&K administration. They alleged that with the enrollment of outside voters in J&K voter lists demography of J&K will change completely.
J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina, however, said the guidelines are in accordance with the Representation of the People Act. “There is nothing wrong in people from outside J&K getting enrolled as voters in the Union Territory, a right which is given to them by the Constitution. After the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the Act came into force in J&K as well,” he said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel