J&K parties to consider moving SC over 'non-locals in electoral roll'

Former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who chaired a meeting of opposition parties at his Srinagar residence on Monday, said that granting voting rights to non-locals in the Union Territory was unacceptable to them and they would consider the option of approaching the Supreme Court on this issue. Abdullah said they have also decided to approach leaders of national political parties and will convene a meeting with them in J&K in September.

BJP, meanwhile, accused the parties of spreading "misleading propaganda" to poison the minds of the people over the issue of "inclusion of non-local voters" in the electoral roll.

The National Conference leader had called a meeting of all the political parties in J&K after the chief electoral officer said that non-locals staying in J&K can now register as voters here. He said as per projected figures of the census department for 2021, there could be an increase of around 2.5 million voters across the UT.


"We don't accept the announcement that non-locals can vote here. This has also made non-locals staying here vulnerable to attacks. We will approach leaders of national political parties and convene a meeting with them in Srinagar or Jammu in September," said Abdullah after the meeting.

At least eight political parties including the NC, People's Democratic Party, Congress, CPI-M, Shiv Sena and others participated in the meeting. The J&K Apni Party and J&K People's Conference didn't participate in this meeting.

"This is a decision to disenfranchise and disempower the voters of J&K. We fear that this will no longer be an assembly of locals but of non-locals," said Abdullah. He informed that they would convene another meeting of this forum in Jammu soon.

J&K PC chief Sajad Lone said he will wait till October 1, when the electoral roll will be prepared and if the party believed something tantamount to demographic intervention has been done they would sit on a hunger strike in front of the Parliament.

BJP's J&K unit chief Ravinder Raina said there was no issue of "locals or non-locals" as the Constitution gives all citizens the right to vote after attaining the age of 18. "The Representative of the People Act was implemented across the country in 1950 and was extended to J&K (in August 2019)... The revision of electoral roll is taking place in accordance with the Act," he said.

(With PTI Inputs)