Voting rights to ‘non-locals’ trigger political storm in J&K

A major political controversy has erupted over the decision of the Election Commission to allow any Indian citizen residing in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to vote in the upcoming Assembly elections, with all mainstream political parties, except BJP, deciding to vehemently oppose the move.

The former Chief Minister and president of National Conference (NC) Dr Farooq Abdullah has even invited leaders of all major opposition parties for a meeting on August 22 at his Srinagar residence to “chalk out future course of action” after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti dailed him for the same.

The PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who is the part of Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), has described the inclusion of “non-locals” as voters of J&K as “the last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy in J&K” and sought the support of all parties of the country to “save” J&K from “pre-poll rigging”.

On Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir, Hirdesh Kumar announced that non-locals including employees, students, labourers, or anyone from outside who is living ordinarily in Jammu and Kashmir, can enlist their name on the voting list, and cast a vote in the coming assembly elections in the Union Territory.

“If 25 lakh BJP voters will come from outside, what will remain the value of voters of Jammu and Kashmir? The J&K issue has gone beyond elections now. Time has come to resolve the Kashmir issue,” Mehbooba said while interacting with mediapersons today.

She said that “Jammu and Kashmir has become a lab for the BJP and all of this is happening in the garb of integration. Not just J&K, they are rigging mandates throughout the country. I have spoken to Farooq Saab since he’s our senior-most leader, and urged him to call an all-party meeting to decide the future course of action.

“It is high time for all secular and democratic parties of the country to oppose BJP’s nefarious designs to deprive people of J&K of their constitutional and democratic rights”, she said.

Other political parties in Kashmir have also reacted sharply to the ECI decision and accused the BJP of tilting the balance in its favour.

Earlier, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah had tweeted, “Is the BJP so insecure about support from genuine voters of J&K that it needs to import temporary voters to win seats?”

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) took a strong dig at the BJP, saying “it wants outsider voters because it has lost local support”.

Expressing strong reservations over the move of EC to enroll 25 lakh new voters especially outside voters, under the misplaced interpretation of the category of “ordinarily residents” of Jammu and Kashmir, JKPCC questioned “will the residents of J&K or outsiders elect their representatives in the next elections ”

In a joint statement JKPCC working President Raman Bhalla, Ravinder Sharma, Yogesh Sawhney and other senior leaders questioned, “How come EC know the exact number of outsiders, entitled to become voters in J &K, when they have yet to apply. How and why the provision is being misused, to enroll those as voters, who are otherwise not eligible”.

“This clearly demonstrates that BJP has lost local support, so it wants outside voters to be enrolled to defeat the mandate of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” they said.

Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari has sought clarification from the Centre on the inclusion of non-local voters in the electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir, saying his party would not allow anyone to change the Union Territory’s demography.

“Two things come to our mind by such statements (refering to CEO statement). One is whether it is an attempt to change our demography, and the other is how anyone can vote at two places. If someone lives outside, how can he vote here? Bukhari told reporters.

He sought a clarification regarding this from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home minister Amit Shah. “This confusion has created apprehensions among the people, perhaps for the first time after August 5, 2019 (when the Centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status). It has created doubts that it is to change our demography,” he said.

CPI(M) leader M.Y. Tarigami also described the announcement made by the CEO on allowing outsiders to vote in J&K as “disenfranchising the people of J&K”.

“What J&K CEO has said amounts to disenfranchising the people of Jammu and Kashmir further. The delimitation process through the reorganization act was an attempt to change the electoral demography of the region”, he said.

“In the absence of any representative government in J&K, the union government has been exercising undiluted control in the region through a bureaucratic structure since June 2018. The statement of CEO is a brazen assault on the legitimate aspirations of the people”, he said.

While quoting the Representation of Peoples’ Act, the CEO had said that there was no need for a domicile certificate to get voting rights in the assembly elections.