19 August,2022 09:47 AM IST | Srinagar | Agencies
NC spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq (centre) said the Centre should clarify the criterion of an ordinarily living citizen, on Thursday. Pic/PTI
The National Conference (NC) on Thursday termed the inclusion of outside voters in Jammu & Kashmir electoral rolls as "clear-cut de-franchising" of people of the erstwhile state, saying no outsiders should be allowed to vote just because they come here temporarily.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti accused the BJP of converting J&K into a "laboratory for its experiments". She said the move to allow outsiders residing ordinarily--for jobs, education or business--in J&K as voters was "aimed at finishing off the democracy" here.
"The important point is that there are many states in the country where there are no elections yet. Those states can send their people here, register themselves as voters, then vote and then de-register themselves here, after which they will again register themselves in their own states," NC's chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said.
"This is the apprehension in the minds of the people as there is no clarity... there is apprehension that all this is being done under a plan," he added.
NC president Farooq Abdullah has convened an all-party meeting, barring the BJP, on August 22 to formulate a common position on the issue of inclusion of outside voters in J&K electoral rolls.
The reaction comes after Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar announced that the Union Territory is likely to get around 25 lakh additional voters, including outsiders, after the special summary revision of electoral rolls being held for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370.
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