National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Monday said all opposition parties are against the new law (inclusion of non-locals as voters in Jammu and Kashmir) and they are thinking of moving the court on the matter.
According to a Hindustan Times report, during an all party meeting at his residence said, “We will invite the leaders of all national parties to Jammu & Kashmir in September and keep our issues before them."
He also said that he had requested L-G Manoj Sinha to call an all-party meeting to discuss the developments. However, it was not considered.
“We do not accept this. We have differences but all parties present here have come together realising that tomorrow we could be left out of our assembly,” Abdullah added.
The meeting was convened following remarks by the Union Territory's chief Electoral officer Hirdesh Kumar on the addition of voters in the revised electoral rolls after which the Jammu and Kashmir's Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) issued a clarification stating that there is no change in the special provisions for the enrolment of Kashmiri migrants.
Will go on hunger strike: Sajad Lone
Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Monday said his party will hold protests, including going on hunger strike, outside all constitutional institutions of the country if any non-locals were enrolled as voters in Jammu and Kashmir.
"We will wait till 1st October when the draft electoral rolls are published. If there is any wrongdoing ... if the electoral demography is sought to be changed, we will hit the streets, not only here but in front of all constitutional institutions of the country like Parliament. We will go on hunger strike. This battle cannot be fought here...We have to make people of India aware about what is happening," Lone said.
Referring to the clarification of the union territory administration on the issue of non-local voters, he said, "We neither accept nor reject the clarification in totality." Lone, who was accompanied by party leader and former law secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Mohammad Ashraf, said under the Constitution of India, enrolling outsiders as voters in Jammu and Kashmir was not possible.
For the unversed, the government on Saturday 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".
(with agency inputs)
