J&K Electoral office begins registration of non-residents of more than one year, check documents required

Electoral Office in Jammu and Kashmir has authorised tehsildars to issue residency certificates to residents who have lived in the valley for more than a year to aid their enrollment in the ongoing special summary revision of electoral rolls. `Keeping in mind the urgency involved in the matter and to ensure that no eligible voter is left`

New Delhi: Electoral Office in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, October 11, 2022, has authorised tehsildars to issue residency certificates to residents who have lived in the valley for more than a year to aid their enrollment in the ongoing special summary revision of electoral rolls. 

"Keeping in mind the urgency involved in the matter and to ensure that no eligible voter is left for registration during the Special Summary Revision, 2022 in District Jammu, all Tehsildars are authorised to issue a certificate of residence to the person(s) residing in District Jammu for more than one year, for the purpose," said District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Avny Lavasa in the order.

Lavasa also provided a list of documents that will be accepted as proof of residency. The proposal was made in response to reports that some eligible voters were having difficulty registering as voters due to a lack of requisite documentation.

Special Summary Revision, 2022 has been started from September 15, 2022, in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir for registration of new voters, deletion, correction, and transposition of voters who have migrated, or died since the last Summary Revision. 

Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on his visit to Jammu and Kashmir announced that the elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir with "full transparency" as soon as the work of compiling the voters` list is completed. He said that after the delimitation of the region, the representative of people's choice will be elected. 

Earlier the delimitation was done in such a way that only the representatives from the three families would be elected, no matter what you do. The Centre, while abrogating the region's special status, had said that the status of state will be given to Jammu and Kashmir at the appropriate time and the elections will be held after delimitation. 

List of documents accepted as proof of residence as accordance with the letter issued by the Electoral Office are as follows: 

1. Water/Electricity/ Gas Connection for one year.

2. Aadhar Card

3. Current Passbook of Nationalized/ Scheduled Bank/ Post Office

4. Indian Passport

5. Revenue Department's Land Owning Record, including Kisan Bahi

6. Registered Rent/ Lease Deed (in case of Tenant)

7. Registered Sale Deed in case of own house

Hirdesh Kumar, the CEO of the Union Territory, said on August 17 that non-locals living temporarily in J&K can vote in the upcoming Assembly elections. He had claimed that after the special summary review of electoral rolls, approximately 25 lakh extra voters, including outsiders, were anticipated to be added.

Following the uproar from the opposition parties, the administration emphasised that the modification of electoral rolls will cover existing J&K citizens, with the rise in numbers coming from voters over the age of 18. However, the recent notification by the Deputy Commissioner of Electoral rolls was directed to include citizens who have been living in the state for more than one year. 

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir opposition leaders like Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdllah stood up against the policy and accused the BJP government of changing the demographics of the country.

"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. BJP is scared of the elections & knows it will lose badly. People of J&K must defeat these conspiracies at the ballot box," Farooq Abdullah's National Conference tweeted.