J&K parties hold protest against new voter list

Several political parties staged a protest in Srinagar

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq addresses a press conference regarding the claims of outsiders to be added to voters’ list, in Srinagar, on Aug. 18, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI

Warning the Central government of “dangerous ramifications” for including non-local voters in the electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir, political parties in the Union Territory staged protests on Friday and asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clarify the inclusion of “outsiders” in the newly released voters list for the upcoming Assembly polls.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Suhail Bukhari led a protest in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. “It’s a protest against the electoral demographic change being forced by the BJP through inclusion of imported voters in the J&K electoral rolls,” Mr. Bukhari said.

Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone said a new set of apprehensions have crept in among the people of J&K after the recent ECI announcement. “The Government of India must come out with unvarnished truth to allay their fears. The statement of ECI officials has heightened the fears of demographic intervention and demographic change. We know the set of laws that prevail across the country but what matters here is not the application of the law but the intentions of those implementing the law,” Mr. Lone said.

He said the disempowerment of the inhabitants of J&K has become a continuous process in the past three years. “This is nothing short of a threat of disempowering whatever little vestigial empowerment that remains. The reality as it stares in our faces is that post August 5, 2019 there has been unabated disempowerment every passing day and there seems to be little evidence that those at the helm of disempowerment are even remotely fatigued. They make us feel like aliens in our own motherland. We are the ruled commodities. The rulers are not from this place and have no stakes in the future of J&K,” Mr. Lone said.

He said unless the government comes forward with an explanation of their intentions, “we see this as an advertent escalation”. “Let reality be reflected as it exists,” he said.

Former Member Parliament Muzaffar Hussain Baig described the ECI statement “irresponsible”. “I think he has made the statement about new voters in J&K out of his hand and has ripped apart the constitution. The Government of India should come clear over the issue,” Mr. Baig said.

“After the abrogation of Article 370, many people who were not enlisted as voters in the erstwhile State of J&K are now eligible to vote and in addition anyone who is living ordinarily can also avail the opportunity to get enlisted as a voter in J&K in accordance with the provisions of representation of the Peoples Act,” J&K Chief Electoral Officer said recently.