Pol leaders oppose DC Jammu’s order to facilitate registration of non-locals as electors

Srinagar, Oct 12: Various politicians of JKUT Wednesday reacted strongly to the directive issued by DC Jammu to facilitate registration of non-locals as electors.
National Conference (NC) leader and MP AnantnagHasnainMasoodi Wednesday said DC Jammu’s order reinforces the party’s apprehensions of disempowerment of local people of J&K.
In a statement Masoodi, who is also the convener of 14 member Committee constituted by the political parties that attended the meeting at Jammu in September to discuss the inclusion of non-local voters, has in a statement labelled the order of DC Jammu dated 11.10. 2022 authorising Revenue Officers to issue, even in absence of documents, certificates declaring the recipients as “Ordinarily residing” in a constituency and facilitate their enrolment as voters as a steps towards addition of 25 lakh non local voters and disempowerment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister GhulamNabi Azad said that those who are outsiders should not be allowed to cast their vote in the Union Territory.
“People outside shouldn’t cast their vote in the UT. Only local voters should be allowed. They can vote in their states in a sealed envelope, as per the system. The importance of voting in Jammu and Kashmir has been that only locals vote – be it Jammu or Kashmir,” said the chief of the newly announced Democratic Azad Party.
PDP chiefMehbooba Mufti said that this law is not applied anywhere in the country except in Jammu and Kashmir and the “BJP wants to eradicate the original citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and settle the outsiders.”
“With the help of delimitation, they strategically planned to divide the constituency in such a way that it favours the vote of BJP, but people of J&K discovered that BJP is using it to gain their vote,” she added. Mufti said that if people in the Union Territory come from outside and settle over there then the culture, society and employment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir will be lost.
Terming the latest order issued by Deputy Commissioner Jammu regarding inclusion of non-local voters in revised electoral rolls as arbitrary, the CPI (M) leader MohamadYousufTarigami said that it is the beginning of a wider plan to reduce the weightage of locals in order to change electoral demographics.
In a statement Chairman People’s Democratic Front (PDF) Hakeem Yaseen said that the decision of the government to give voting rights to ordinary residents would undoubtedly change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the decision enabling non-residents, having just one year’s stay in Jammu, to register in the voter lists has emotionally and mentally disturbed the politically conscious people of Jammu and Kashmir, adding that the government should revoke the decision at the earliest.