An order issued by the District Election Officer, Jammu with regard to registration of fresh voters residing in the district for more than a year late Tuesday evening has once again created a flutter promoting the Kashmir-based regional parties to corner the Union Government and the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) alleging they were desperately trying to manipulate the voters list to ensure their victory in the electoral arena.
The order had authorised all tehsildars (revenue officials) to issue certificates of residence to anyone who has lived in the district for more than one year. The order said the decision was taken to ensure that no eligible voter is left for registration in the ongoing special summary revision of electoral rolls. Surprisingly, no other district election officer issued this order directing the officials in their jurisdiction to enroll fresh voters.
According to the order, any document including the Aadhar Card, water/electricity/gas connection, bank passbooks, passport, registered rent or land deeds, etc., can be used as proof of residence. Those not possessing any of these documents can be included in the voter list after field verification.
Interestingly, the order was issued a day after a high level review meeting chaired by the Election Commission of India (ECI) had taken stock of the progress of summary revision of the electoral rolls across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources revealed so far around 6 lakh applications for fresh registration of eligible voters has been submitted. During the meeting the district wise progress was also monitored by the officials of the ECI.
Meanwhile, reacting strongly to the order the opposition parties namely People`s Democratic Party, National Conference and other non-BJP parties have called this decision a blow to the identity and culture of Jammu and Kashmir.
Strongly opposing the attempts to enroll lakhs of outside voters în Jammu and Kashmir , through backdoors,the Congress Wednesday hit out at the BJP for its efforts to enroll maximum outside voters,since it has lost trust in the local voters .
Addressing a press conference at PCC Hqs, JKPCC President Vikar Rasool Wani alongwith Working President Raman Bhalla and other senior leaders, said this is the game plan of BJP to dilute the power of local voters, especially în Jammu region.
"Now anybody can become voters în Jammu and Kashmir by getting a certificate even if he doesn't have any documentary evidence. The intention is clearly known. The order of District Election officer Jammu has clearly stated that even without any documents, the tehsildars shall issue residence certificates to anybody on his satisfaction, which means absolute discretion".
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti slammed the central government and said that it has started work on the project to make Jammu and Kashmir its colony.ECI`s latest order for registration of new voters makes it clear that GOIs colonial settler project has been initiated in Jammu. They will bear the first blow to Dogra culture, identity, employment & business.
BJPs attempts to create religious & regional divisions between Jammu & Kashmir must be thwarted because whether it's a Kashmiri or a Dogra, safeguarding our identity & rights will be possible only if we put up a collective fight", Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.
The National Conference while opposing the move tweeted “The Government is going ahead with its plan to add 25 lakh non-local voters in J&K and we continue to oppose this move. BJP is scared of the elections & knows it will lose badly. People of J&K must defeat these conspiracies at the ballot box”.
Meanwhile, BJP state President Ravindra Raina hit out at Congress and PDP saying that they have been conspiring against the constitutional values in Jammu and Kashmir.
"This is not a new thing, this is the law of the country which came in 1950 and The People's Representation Act 1951 which has come into force in Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370", the BJP President added.
He further stated that the process which is going on for the registration of voters in J&k is correct and according to the constitution. According to the People's Representation Act 1951, any person can add his name to the place where he has been residing for a long time after removing his name from the electoral roll.
CPI(M) leader MY Tarigami tweeted,"This latest order is the beginning of a wider plan to give voting rights to non-locals to reduce the weightage of locals & change electoral demographics. All parties and civil society groups must reject this arbitrary inclusion of non- locals. BJP's designs must be defeated".