Jammu & Kashmir: DIPR issues clarification on revision of electoral rolls
Move was opposed by leaders of opposition including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti who called it "last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy"
New Delhi: The J&K government issued a clarification on Saturday dismissing the several news which had surfaced regarding the revision of electoral rolls in the Union Territory.
Jammu and Kashmir’s Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) notification says, “There is no change in special provisions for Kashmiri migrants for their enrolment in electoral rolls of their original native constituencies”.
“There is no change in the rules regarding the buying of property and jobs in the Jammu and Kashmir’s government and no link to the representation of voters or otherwise”, it added.
“Number of Electors as published in Special Summary Revision of J&K State in 2011 was 66,00,921, and the number of electors as of today in the electoral roll of J&K UT is 76,02,397. This increase is mainly due to the new voters, who attained the age of 18 years”, it further read.
The clarification comes after the Election Commission recently announced that it will provide rights to participate in the local polls to the voters who are not a part of J&K’ Special Summary Revision.
“After the abrogation of Article 370, Representation of People Act 1950 and 1951 is applicable. It allows ordinarily residing person to get registered in electoral rolls of UT of J-K, provided he/she gets the name deleted from the electoral roll of his/her native constituency”, a government official was quoted saying by the news agency ANI.
The move was opposed by several leaders of opposition including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti who called it the “last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy”.