J&K, 18 August: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Hirdesh Kumar’s announcement that non-locals living ordinarily in J&K can register their names in the voting list has drawn angry reactions from mainstream parties in the Union Territory.
“This is last nail in coffin of electoral democracy. A Muslim majority state chose India, they wanted to be part of secular India. But people have lost confidence in voting. Everything happening in BJP’s interest” PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said on non-locals given voting rights in J&K.
“Is the BJP so insecure about support from genuine voters of J&K that it needs to import temporary voters to win seats? None of these things will help the BJP when the people of J&K are given a chance to exercise their franchise”, Former CM Umar Abdullah tweeted.
J&K Peoples Conference’s Sajad Lone said, “This is dangerous. I don’t know what they want to achieve. This is much more than a mischief. Democracy is a relic especially in the context of Kashmir. Please remember 1987. We are yet to come out of that. Don’t replay 1987. It will be as disastrous”.
While CEO Hirdesh Kumar described the ongoing exercise to complete the special summary revision of electoral rolls by November 25 as a “challenging task”.
The massive exercise is going on to ensure that all the eligible voters including those who will attain the age of 18 years on October 1, 2022 or earlier are enrolled to provide an “error-free” final list, the chief electoral officer said.
Checking of health parameters and obtaining the commission’s permission for final publication and updating database and printing of supplements was fixed for November 19 before the publication of final electoral rolls on November 25.
“The special summary revision of electoral rolls is taking place for the first time after January 1, 2019 and so we are expecting massive changes in the voter list given the fact that a large number of youngsters have attained the age of 18 or 18 plus over the past three years,” Kumar said.
He said the projected 18-plus population of J&K are is around 98 lakhs, while the number of enlisted voters are 76 lakh according to the last voter list.
He said after the delimitation exercise the number of assembly seats increased to 90.
“All the 90 constituencies have witnessed some sort of change… We are undertaking mapping of old constituencies with new constituencies and it will be followed by the special summary revision (SSR),” Kumar said.
He said 600 polling stations have been added and now their total number across Jammu and Kashmir has gone up to 11,370.
The chief electoral officer said provision has been made in the modified registration forms for linking of Aadhaar number with electoral roll data.
He said the commission will issue voter cards with new security features.
About Kashmiri migrants outside the valley, he said there is already a special provision for such displaced populations to enable them to exercise their franchise.
“They (Kashmiri Pandit migrants) are registered as voters in their home constituencies. Special camps are being organised for them at different places including Delhi, Jammu and Udhampur for registration of new voters and all of them will be given the voter ID cards,” he said.
He dismissed suggestions that the Rohingya refugees, who have taken shelter in Jammu and other parts, can get themselves registered as voters. “We have officers in place and they know their duty”.
