Srinagar: Former Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) President, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said on Monday that the decision to give voting rights to non-locals in Jammu and Kashmir elections will be resisted by all the political parties of the state.
Addressing the media at the end of Monday's all-party meeting held at his high security Gupkar Road residence in Srinagar, Abdullah said:
"They are saying the new voters would be 25 lakhs. It could be 50 lakhs, 60 lakhs or even a crore. There is no clarity on this.
"Once the voting rights are given to the non-locals in J&K, everything including the identity of the state would be lost. "We have, therefore, decided that the decision to give voting rights to non-locals will be opposed and resisted jointly by all of us."
"Once the voting rights are given to the non-locals in J&K, everything including the identity of the state would be lost.
"We have, therefore, decided that the decision to give voting rights to non-locals will be opposed and resisted jointly by all of us."
"The second thing, which is most important, is that many political parties have not been provided security here. How does the government plan to protect the non-local labourers after they become vulnerable? Any decision regarding this should be carefully thought over," he said.
Those who attended the all-party meeting in addition to Dr. Abdullah and his son, Omar Abdullah include Mehbooba Mufti of PDP, Vikar Rasool Wani, president of J&K Congress committee, Vice President of the party's J&K unit Raman Bhalla, Yusuf Tarigami of CPI-M, Muzzafar Ahmad Shah of Awami National Conference, Narinder Singh Khalsa of the Akali Dal, and Manish Sahni, president of Shiv Sena's J&K unit. Sahni belongs to Uddhav Thackeray group of Shiv Sena.
In a related development, Sajad Lone, President of Peoples Conference (PC) Monday said that he will sit on hunger strike before Parliament if electoral demography of Jammu and Kashmir is changed.
Speaking to the media here, Lone said that the Peoples Representation Act (1950 and 1951) is not against us, but the intention of the government is.
He said he will neither accept the explanation given on voting rights to non-locals by the government nor reject it.
"We will wait and watch the situation," he said.
The Narendra Modi last Wednesday decided to grant voting rights to non-locals temporarily staying in Jammu & Kashmir. The decision is expected to add about 2.5 million more voters on top of the 7.6 million existing voters – a whopping 30 percent increase.
The new voters would include Indians temporarily residing in the region, mainly Indian military personnel, government and private sector employees, and migrant workers.
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