Srinagar: Any decision to include ‘non-locals’ in electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir is unacceptable and will be contested by all means including in court, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah said Monday. The announcement came after a meeting of nine parties here over the issue. Farooq Abdullah said they were united against the move to extend the voting right to ‘outsiders’ as it would rob Jammu and Kashmir of its identity.
“The state’s identity is about to end. The Dogra, Kashmiri, Pahari or Gujjar or Sikh, who reside here, will lose their identity. The Assembly will be in the hands of the outsiders… We all oppose it and are not ready to accept it,” Abdullah told reporters.
The meeting, called by Abdullah, was attended by leaders of the Congress, PDP, Awami National Conference (ANC), Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), JDU and the Akali Dal Mann. However, Sajjad Lone-led People’s Conference and Altaf Bukhar’s Apni Party stayed away.
The BJP, meanwhile, accused the NC, PDP and other parties of spreading ‘misleading propaganda’ to poison the minds of the people over the issue of ‘inclusion of non-local voters’ in the revised electoral rolls in the Union Territory.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, BJP’s J-K unit chief Ravinder Raina said there is no issue of ‘locals or non-locals’ as the Constitution gives all citizens the right to vote in the country after attaining the age of 18.
“The Representative of the People Act was implemented across the country in 1950 and was extended to J-K after the abrogation of Article 370 (in August 2019). The revision of electoral rolls is taking place in accordance with the Act,” the BJP leader said.
Abdullah had convened the meeting after the NC and other parties objected to the remarks of the Union Territory’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Hirdesh Kumar that there will be around 25 lakh additional voters and anyone who is living ordinarily can avail the opportunity to get enlisted as a voter in J&K under the provisions of ‘The Representation of the People Act’.
The government issued a clarification Saturday. It said the reports of a likely addition of over 25 lakh voters after the summary revision of electoral rolls is a ‘misrepresentation of facts by vested interests’ and the increase in numbers will be of voters who have attained the age of 18 years as of October 1, 2022, or earlier.
Dissatisfied with the clarification, the NC and other parties claimed the administration has not addressed their main concern on whether ‘outsiders’ ordinarily residing in J-K will be allowed to enroll as voters.
Asked about their strategy, Abdullah said there were a lot of things that could be done including approaching the court.
“One is to make people aware, that is our job first. Secondly, there are avenues like we can go to court also. We are thinking on that aspect also,” Abdullah stated.
CPI(M) leader MY Tarigami said the parties were clear that what the CEO said in the press conference and the clarification of the Information Department is ‘unacceptable to all of us’. “We will explore the possibilities of seeking justice from the highest court of the country,” he said.
Abdullah said the meeting was necessitated because of the situation arising after the Election Commission opened the voting rights to all and they will hold a similar meeting in Jammu. The NC president claimed he had requested Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to call an all-party meeting but there has been no response so far.
“I called the LG five days back, requested him to invite all leaders like he had when the Amarnath Yatra was about to start… He had promised us before that they will invite us regularly… But, there has been no response so far,” Abdullah told reporters at his residence.
Abdullah said they have also decided to invite leaders from national parties in September. “We will decide where to have that meeting – whether in Jammu or Kashmir. We will invite them and place all the issues of this state before them,” the NC president said.
The NC president said the meeting condemned the killings taking place ‘whether of Kashmiri Pandits, labourers, Kashmiri Muslims or policemen or security forces personnel’.
“We condemned it in strong terms. We have requested that this law (voting rights) will become a root of trouble because they (the government) cannot provide protection to every labourer when they do not provide protection to every political party,” Abdullah pointed out.