Voting rights to non-locals in J&K in keeping with Representation of People Act 1950, 1951: Govt

Even as the J&K Chief Electoral Officer's announcement on 'non locals' to also be allowed to register as voters in the new electoral roll drew sharp political reactions, government sources maintained that the move was in keeping with the Representation of People Act 1950 & 1951 which is in effect in J&K, following the abrogation of Article 370.

The Act allows ordinarily residing persons to get registered in electoral rolls of any constituency in India provided he/she gets the name deleted from the electoral roll of his/her native constituency.

The same is now applicable to the Union Territory of J&K as well.


Government sources also pointed out that even prior to abrogation of Art 370, those ordinarily residing in the UT were eligible to get registered in electoral rolls.

They were categorised as Non Permanent Resident (NPR) voters. During the last Parliamentary elections, there were approximately 32,000 NPR voters in J&K, as per official estimates.

The J&K Representation of People's Act, 1957 and the state constitution designated 'permanent residents' as those largely eligible to be on the electoral roll of the state.

The issue has, meanwhile, sparked strong political reaction ahead of the pending assembly polls.

Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah has called for an all-party meeting on August 22 to discuss the issue. The sitting Lok Sabha member from Srinagar said that he personally spoke to leaders of all the parties except the BJP.

People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti also lashed out at the BJP government, saying. "They want to ensure the entry of 25 lakh voters of BJP through the backdoor into J&K...BJP wants to make this country a 'BJP Rashtra' not a 'Hindu Rashtra'," said Mufti.