In a significant development amid the electoral roll’s revision in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Shiv Sena on Monday joined the all-party meeting called to oppose the Union government's move to grant voting rights to people ordinarily residing in the Union territory.
The meeting was chaired by National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah. It was convened to discuss the issue of the "inclusion of non-local voters" in electoral rolls in J&K.
While most of the mainstream parties in J&K other than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attended the meeting, the Sajad Lone-led People's Conference and Altaf Bukhari led Apni Party stayed away from the meeting.
Leaders from Congress, CPI(M), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Shiv Sena gathered at Abdullah’s residence in Srinagar. Following the meeting, Abdullah said the new move to provide voting rights to outsiders in Jammu and Kashmir would make a lot of people vulnerable.
Expressing concerns over recent targeting killings in Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah said that he reached out to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to convene an all-party meeting on the issue but received no response.
He said, “We have expressed concern over the recent killings, whether of Kashmiri Pandits, outsider labourers, Kashmiri Muslims, policemen or army personnel. We have apprehensions that they [outsiders] would be attacked. They should carefully take decisions.
“I called Lieutenant Governor [Manoj Sinha] a few days ago and asked him to call an all-party meeting. Previously, he had called a meeting about Shri Amarnath Yatra and we all went. This time, I requested him to call all political parties for a meeting, but there was no response to my request from Lieutenant Governor.”
The spirited discussion over electoral rolls began after J&K Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar on August 17 said that after the abrogation of Article 370, every citizen of the country residing ordinarily in J&K —whether for labour work, education or business purpose— can register as a voter in J&K and cast vote in the next assembly elections.
Kumar further said that he expects an increase of 20-25 lakh voters after the completion of the special summary revision of the electoral rolls whose final announcement will be made on November 25 2022.
Kumar added that the Election Commission of India has further notified the schedule of Special Summary Revision with reference to October 1, 2022, as the qualifying date in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
Announcing that a similar meeting will be held in Jammu, Abdullah said, “We will make people aware of what the government is planning to do. We are going to the Court also. We are thinking on all kinds of avenues.”
Abdullah asked why only Jammu and Kashmir has been chosen for giving voting rights to outsiders. He said there are differences of opinion within political parties but they will fight together on this issue.
Speaking on the issue, Shiv Sena said their position is aligned with other parties of J&K which are opposing giving voting rights to outsiders.
“Repeatedly, people of Jammu and Kashmir are being stabbed in the back. First, the government removed the permanent resident certificate and asked everyone to get a domicile. Now that people after remaining in long queues have got domicile certificates, they are now being told that outsiders are now eligible to vote in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Manish Sawhney, President of Shiv Sena J&K unit.
Sajad Lone of People's Conference, who did not attend the meeting, said that they would wait till October 1, following which they would sit on hunger strike if outsider voters are included in the electoral roll.
He said, “We know the current administrations in Delhi or in Srinagar don't hold political parties of J&K in very high esteem. In fact, they display contempt and disdain for them. We think the final test is on October 1 when it [the summary revision] will be out. We don’t think the law is a threat to us but we are scared of those implementing the law. We will wait to see what they will do. If they do it [include 25 lakh outsiders as voters], we will sit on hunger strike in front of India. This war cannot be fought here. We will wait till October 1.”
