Will examine final electoral roll, see who are the new voters: PAGD

JAMMU: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which had been spearheading an agitation against possible inclusion of 25 lakh non-local voters in the electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday said it would examine the final draft of the special summary revision and see how 7.72 lakh new voters were added to the poll rolls.

Joint chief electoral officer Anil Salgotra had on Friday said there was a net increase of 7,72,872 voters in the final electoral roll, which took the total number of electors in J&K to 83,59,771.

PAGD chief spokesperson and CPI (M) leader MY Tarigami said, “The BJP government has tried to influence the electoral process. We all remember how the then chief electoral officer, Hirdesh Kumar Singh, had said that there will be a possible addition of 25 lakh new voters.”

“The Opposition parties had unanimously decided that any erosion in the electoral process or any attempt to change the demography will not be accepted,” he added.

“Jammu deputy commissioner Avny Lavasa had also released a notification for issuing certificate of residence to outsiders living in Jammu. She then rolled it back following massive outrage,” he added.

The former legislator said that the BJP could not get the space to manipulate the electoral rolls to its advantage because of the vigilance and wider unity among Opposition parties.

“We will soon examine the final draft on merits at a meeting under the chairmanship of Justice Masoodi,” he said.

“We would see from where they added 7.72 lakh new voters and who are they? If they are natives, we don’t have any problem, but we certainly won’t allow non-locals and those who are not in the population register of J&K,” he added.

Senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta, meanwhile, said, “Opposition parties which ruled J&K constantly deprived West Pakistani refugees, Valmikis and Gurkhas of voting rights in the assembly elections. When the special summary revision of electoral rolls started, they accused the BJP of influencing election commission to change the demography. A completely transparent exercise was conducted by poll officials, including door-to-door visits and proper verification of documents.”

We won’t allow addition of nonlocals to poll rolls. MY TARIGAMI, PAGD spokesperson

Pressure from Oppn prevented enrolment of 25 lakh voters: Congress

The J&K Congress on Saturday claimed that pressure mounted by the Opposition worked to prevent the misuse of electoral laws to register the proposed 25 lakh voters by the government machinery.

Reacting to the addition of 7.72 lakh new voters, JKPCC in a statement issued here said the number appeared slightly higher than the past trend. “Now that the entire prerequisite process for assembly elections is complete, the polls should not be delayed any further,” it added.