'BJP is afraid of elections in J&K', says Mehbooba Mufti after EC's order on new voters in Jammu

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti came down heavily on the central government after Election Commission's latest order for registration of new voters in Jammu. The former CM said that BJP is changing the demography of the UT as it is scared of the upcoming assembly elections

Jammu: People's democratic party president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday accused the central government of orchestrating demographic change in Jammu and Kashmir. Mufti said "The article 370 has been removed from J&K to pave way for these kinds of things and their 'BJP' main goal is to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir. The 'BJP' is afraid of elections because they know the people of Kashmir and Jammu have understood their intentions and they will lose badly that's why now they resort to add the non-local voters," said Mufti. She further added that "with the opening of land, jobs and now votes for non-locals the traditional culture of Kashmiris and Dogras will be ruined, and nothing will be left for them in Jammu and Kashmir."

Mufti said, "BJPs attempts to create religious & regional divisions between Jammu & Kashmir must be thwarted because whether it's a Kashmiri or a Dogra, safeguarding our identity & rights will be possible only if we put up a collective fight.”

Main Regional Political parties of Jammu and Kashmir including National Conference and PDP and DAP have raised a red flag against the Deputy Commissioners order and strongly reacted to the order they said authorities’ move to register those who have lived in Jammu for only a year to be registered as “new voters” after following “friendly" procedures is objectionable and it will ruin the demography as well as the culture of Jammu Kashmir. 

BJPs attempts to create religious & regional divisions between Jammu & Kashmir must be thwarted because whether its a Kashmiri or a Dogra, safeguarding our identity & rights will be possible only if we put up a collective fight.

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 12, 2022

Deputy commissioner Jammu Avny Lavasa, on Tuesday, issued a circular authorising tehsildar to issue certificates of residence to those living in Jammu for more than one year, paving the way for their entry into the electoral rolls.”

The voter lists in Jammu and Kashmir are being revised and new potential voters are being added and those who are not alive are being deleted. Home Minister, Amit Shah had said in Baramulla North Kashmir during a rally, the polls will take place once the summary revision of the voter list is over.

National conference too said that they ( BJP) wants back door entries in the voter list and that’s why these types of orders are being issued but people should understand the game and should come out and vote to defeat them “The Government is going ahead with its plan to add 25 lakh non-local voters in J&K and we continue to oppose this move,” Said National Conference spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar. He said “BJP fears the elections & knows it will lose badly. 

He said, "National Conference is fighting it legally too and we have challenged the reorganisation of Jammu Kashmir and having full faith in the Judiciary we hope soon the decision of the Supreme Court will come in our favour and all those orders will automatically go in vain". 

The newly formatted political party DAP ( Democratic Azad Party ) was made by veteran congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad after leaving congress to oppose the order Azad said “ Making non-resident a voter we were always against that, and we will remain against that this was what 370 had given us special and it will ruin our social setup”

Reacting to the directive issued by DC Jammu to facilitate registration of non-locals as electors, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference said that the order is highly suspicious and the onus of proving our suspicions wrong yet again lies on the ECI and the J&K administration.

Peoples’ Conference urged the Election Commission of India as well as the J&K Administration to come clean on the matter and clarify if DC Jammu has been authorized to issue such a directive and if so, under what law, rule, or norm.”

However, the Apni party didn’t openly oppose the order but said that we will see if someone was illegally inducted, we will oppose that and if the criteria for induction of new voters is not according to the rules of the Election Commission of India, we will then oppose the order said party vice president Gulam Hassan Mir” 

While Bhartiya Janata Party, on the other hand, has welcomed the move, saying the party is glad the process will take Jammu Kashmir at par with other states of the country. 

Kavinder Gupta, former deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said all laws applicable in the rest of the country are now applicable in UT.

“Parties who are opposing this move should realise that Article 370 is gone now, and Constitution says whoever wants to vote from any area can do so.," he said.