The senior leaders of Jammu and Kashmir today criticized the election commission’s decision of giving voting rights to non-locals in the state and called all party meeting on this issue.

Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said that it will be the last nail in coffin of Indian democracy. It was a dangerous attempt to influence elections in the state.

She alleged that the Indian government’s decision to defer polls in Jammu and Kashmir preceded by egregious gerrymandering tilting the balance in BJP’s favors and now allowing non-locals to vote was obviously to influence election results. The real aim was to continue ruling the state with an iron fist to disempower locals.

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Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah questioned the intention of the BJP in the state. He said that the BJP was so insecure about support from genuine voters of Jammu and Kashmir. Now, it needed to import temporary voters to win seats in the state. None of these things will help the BJP when the people of state were given a chance to exercise their franchise.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar told reporters that more than 20 lakh new voters would be enrolled in the region ahead of polls. This will increase the voter count by more than a third, adding to the existing 76 lakh voters in the region.

Hirdesh Kumar said that after abrogation of 370, those who couldn’t vote earlier can now register as voters. They were expecting an addition of (20-25 lakh) new voters (including non-Kashmiris) in the final list.

He said that a special revision of the electoral rolls will allow non-locals to register as voters in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time since the Centre scrapped its special status under Article 370 in 2019, changing the constitution to allow non-Kashmiris to vote and own land there.

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