Northlines – August 20, 2022
The announcement of the Chief Electoral Officer of J&K regarding an ensuing exercise for inclusion of about 25 lakh voters in the revision of Assembly Electoral Roll and announcing eligibility of those ordinarily residing (Non-local) in J&K has triggered an outrage among the Kashmiri political parties who take the measure as an act of permanently disenfranchise Kashmiris.
According to the J&K's chief electoral officer, Hridesh Kumar the new rules would allow “any citizen of India who has attained the qualifying age of 18 years and ordinarily residing” in Jammu Kashmir Union Territory to be eligible to vote.
Kumar has further said there was no need for a person to have a domicile certificate from J&K to become a voter. He said non-Kashmiri employees, students or labourers could sign up to vote. This would also include members of the armed forces posted in Kashmir.
An alliance of Kashmiri political parties has called for a meeting next week to discuss the “inclusion of non-locals” in the voter list after the government announced the voting rights to people who are ‘ordinarily living' in Jammu Kashmir.
Kashmiri political parties expressed their anguish saying that the said inclusion to the voter rolls is an attempt by New Delhi to further consolidate its control after Jammu Kashmir lost its special status within the union of India.
“This is the last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy in Jammu and Kashmir,” former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, the chief of Jammu Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party.
The announcement has fuelled further resentment among the locals who have been already scared about losing their special identity and they have yet to reconcile to the drastic political step the Modi Government had taken by diluting Article 370 and bifurcating the erstwhile state into a Union Territories of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh and also introduced a slew of new laws including the scrapping of State Subject, the introduction of Domicile and fresh Delimitation etc, which critics and Kashmir's politicians fear could tilt the balance against the Kashmiris in the region.
While the population in the Jammu region seems silent over the new measures pushed by the Central Government, the reaction from the Kashmir valley is furious and indignation.
After abrogating the special status, the centre has abolished permanent citizenship and started granting domicile certificates to every Indian citizen who meets specified criteria of living in the region for at least 15 years.
This has made a large number of migrant labourers, non-local employees and people pursuing their careers. Interestingly, the new measures have given domicile rights to more non-locals in the Jammu province than in Kashmir valley where the administration faces stiff resistance to implementing such initiatives.
Before 2019, the electoral rolls for local elections only allowed voting rights to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. The point is such controversial measures should not be pushed aggressively that hurts the sentiments and enhance the sense of insecurity among the local population. This may result in an aggressive reprisal against J&K Adm, especially in the Kashmir valley.
