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Farooq Abdullah chairs all party-meet over proposed inclusion of non-local voters
JAMMU: Former chief minister and chairman of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), Dr Farooq Abdullah chaired an all-party meet at his Bhatindi residence here on Saturday over the proposed inclusion of around 2
JAMMU: Former chief minister and chairman of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), Dr Farooq Abdullah chaired an all-party meet at his Bhatindi residence here on Saturday over the proposed inclusion of around 2.5 voters including non-locals in the electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The meeting was chaired by Dr Farooq Abdullah. PDP chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti besides leaders of other political parties attended it,” said a police official.
CPI (M) leader and spokesperson of the PAGD, MY Tarigami, who was also attending the meeting, was likely to issue a statement after the meeting gets over.
“The all-party meeting in Jammu is part of the ongoing consultations to come out with a joint strategy to stand united against any move to include outsiders in the electoral rolls in a bid to influence election results,” Tarigami had said on August 29.
The alliance had convened a similar meeting in Srinagar on August 22, which was attended by the Congress, Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal (Mann), besides all of its constituents.
However, Sajjad Lone-led People’s Conference and Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party had stayed away.
“Any decision to include non-locals in electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir was unacceptable and will be contested by all means, including in court,” Dr Abdullah had told at the Srinagar meeting.
The proposed addition of 2.5 million names to the electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir has stirred a political hornet’s nest, with local parties saying it was a ploy to alter the region’s demographics and the government dismissing allegations that “outsiders” will influence electoral outcomes.
On September 6, the chief electoral officer of Jammu and Kashmir, Hirdesh Kumar Singh, convened an all-party meeting at his office chambers over a special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls and tried to allay the fears of the opposition.
Heated arguments between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition leaders over the inclusion of “non-locals” in the voter list were witnessed during the all-party meeting.
However, by and large, the opposition had remained dissatisfied after the CEO’s meeting.
PDP had accused the BJP of playing spoilsport in the meeting.
Following the invite, AAP activists led by former education minister Harsh Dev Singh and Taranjit Singh Tony staged a protest at the Nirvachan Bhawan.
The government had also issued a clarification, saying the reports of a likely addition of over 25 lakh voters after the summary revision of electoral rolls is a “misrepresentation of facts by vested interests”.
Reacting to the clarification, Mehbboa Mufti tweeted, “The ‘Clarification’ issued by DIPR is a silent endorsement of the statement given by Chief Election Officer. Doesn’t address our apprehensions about non-locals en masse being given the power to vote.Yet another design to dispossess people of J&K.”
