Baramulla tehsildar trying to enroll non-locals as voters: Mehbooba Mufti
“According to reports, verbal orders were passed in a meeting in Baramulla yesterday by the tehsildar to enroll non-local labourers, CISF, CRPF, BSF and army personnel as voters. The administration must come clean on this,” Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.
Former J&K chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday accused the tehsildar-Baramulla of issuing verbal orders to enroll non-local labourers and security force personnel deployed in the district on the voters’ list.
On Monday, Baramulla tehsildar Kifyat Ali chaired a meeting regarding electoral rolls and other issues at the district headquarters.
PDP chief sought clarification from the government on this issue. “According to reports, verbal orders were passed in a meeting in Baramulla yesterday by the tehsildar to enroll non-local labourers, CISF, CRPF, BSF and army personnel as voters. The administration must come clean on this,” Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.
Kifyat Ali termed the allegation as baseless. “There is nothing like that. Let them (Mehbooba Mufti) come up with proof supporting their statement,” he said.
This was not the first time that leaders of the mainstream political parties have expressed apprehensions about the inclusion of non-locals on the voters’ list, especially after J&K chief electoral officer Hardesh Kumar’s statement last month.
Last month Kumar during a press conference said that after the abrogation of Article 370, many people, who were not enlisted as voters in the erstwhile state of J&K, are now eligible to vote. He said in addition anyone who was living in the state can also avail of the opportunity to get enlisted as a voter in J&K.
The CEO’s statement stirred a hornet’s nest in the state with former CM Mehbooba Mufti terming it the “last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy”. She accused the BJP of trying to ‘change demography’ by attempting to ‘bring 2.5 million outside votes in through the backdoor’.
National Conference, Congress, and almost all the other political parties in the state termed the statement a step towards disempowering the people. Only BJP has come out in support of the decision.
However, the state government’s directorate of information and public relations issued a clarification and said that the revision of electoral rolls will cover existing residents of the union territory. “(The) increase in numbers will be of voters who have attained the age of 18 years as on 1.10.2022 or earlier,” said the statement.
