’25 lakh non-local voters added to J&K electoral list at BJP’s behest’

At least 25 lakh non-locals have been added to the Jammu & Kashmir electoral roll at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s, said Gupkar Alliance convener Hussain Masoodi on Monday.

Masoodi, who is leader of the National Conference, said that the leaders of the Gupkar Alliance, a 17-member panel of political parties, would reach out to the people of the region to prevent it.

He said the process of issuing certificates of residence to non-locals for their inclusion in the roll was on even as Jammu deputy magistrate Avny Lavasa withdrew an order in this regard after an uproar last week, according to Hindustan Times. “We want to know new guidelines to the revenue officials,” he said after the panel’s first meeting in Jammu.

Earlier, the state election commission said that even outsiders residing in J&K can get their names registered on electoral rolls. The move was sharply objected to by the former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti who called it “blow to the region’s culture, identity, employment, and business”. In a tweet, Mufti said the directive issued late on Tuesday last makes it clear that the “colonial settler project” has been initiated in Jammu. Lavasa’s directive was withdrawn later.

Local parties said it was a ploy to alter the region’s demographics. The government dismissed the allegations that “outsiders” will influence electoral outcomes.

Last Saturday, Dr Farooq Abdullah invited leaders of all political parties for a meeting at Gupkar residence to discuss the recent announcement by the J&K govt regarding the inclusion of non-locals in the voter lists, according to KNS news.

On August 17, chief electoral officer Hirdesh Kumar Singh told reporters that the ongoing special summary revision of the roll as part of preparations for the region’s first assembly election in eight years was likely to add around 2.5 million voters, according to HT.

Masoodi said Lavasa did not withdraw the directive in writing. “…what are the new guidelines, the government needs to come clean on it,” said Masoodi.

The final electoral roll is expected to be published on November 25.

The region’s special status, which was scrapped in 2019, did not allow this. On September 6, Singh convened an all-party meeting to allay fears.

He said, “[Lavasa] issued a notification containing guidelines for issuing certificates of residence to those living for over a year for enrolling them as voters. It caused outrage and substantiated the fears. The order then is withdrawn verbally. It gave open-ended power to revenue officials to issue the certificates of residence to non-locals.”

Karan Singh wants early elections

“We have realised that both the regions [Jammu and Kashmir Valley] were pitted against each other and deliberately misconceptions were engineered between the two regions,” he said.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Dr Karan Singh on Monday demanded early assembly elections in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the AICC presidential voting at the party’s Srinagar headquarters, Singh said that democracy cannot be ensured without the elections in Jammu and Kashmir. He said, “We have been hearing that the elections will be conducted in March next year, but there is no official confirmation yet. Congress and other parties have been demanding early polls and they should be held at an earliest.”

-INDIA NEWS STREAM