Jammu voting rights: In what could be termed as first-ever electoral revision being done after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the Jammu administration on Tuesday decided that people staying for more than a year in the region are now eligible to vote. District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Avny Lavasa passed the directive after taking serious note of some eligible voters facing hardships in registration as voters for non-availability of required documents.
As per the order, any document like the Aadhar Card, water/electricity/gas connection, bank passbooks, passport, registered land deeds, etc., can be used as proof of residence. The special summary revision is meant for registration of new voters and the deletion, correction, and transposition of voters who have migrated or died since the last summary revision was held in Jammu and Kashmir, the order added.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) vehemently opposed the order and added that the BJP is "scared of the elections and knows it will lose badly".
PDP flays order
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday flayed the Election Commission's order for registration of new voters in Jammu, charging that the Centre's "colonial settler project" has been initiated in the region.
The former J-K chief minister said the BJP's alleged attempts to create religious and regional divisions between Jammu and Kashmir must be "thwarted" because "whether its a Kashmiri or a Dogra, safeguarding our identity and rights will be possible only if we put up a collective fight".
"ECI’s latest order for registration of new voters makes it clear that GOIs colonial settler project has been initiated in Jammu. They will bear the first blow to Dogra culture, identity, employment & business," she charged on Twitter.
A few days back, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said soon there will be Assembly elections in the Valley. Shah said assembly polls will be held with "full transparency" in Jammu and Kashmir after the Election Commission publishes the revised electoral rolls and asserted that the Modi government will wipe out terrorism from the Union territory.
