Srinagar, Nov 26: The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which has been
leading a protest against the possible addition of 25 lakh non-local voters to the electoral rolls of
Jammu and Kashmir, said on Saturday that it would look at the final draft of the special summary
revision to see how 7.72 lakh new voters were added to the poll rolls.
Anil Salgotra, the Joint Chief Electoral Officer, said on Friday that the final electoral roll showed
a net increase of 7,72,872 voters, bringing the total number of voters in J&K to 83,59,771.
MY Tarigami, who is also a leader of the CPI (M), is the main spokesman for the PAGD. He
said, "The BJP government has tried to influence the election process. We all remember how
Hirdesh Kumar Singh, the chief electoral officer at the time, said that there could be as many as
25 lakh new voters.
"The opposition parties had all agreed that any attempt to weaken the voting process or change
the population will not be accepted," he said. Tarigami also talked about how Hasnain Masoodi
put together a 17-person committee of opposition parties, which included groups from Jammu.
"The deputy commissioner of Jammu, Avny Lavasa, also put out a notice about giving foreigners
living in Jammu a certificate of residence. She then took it back because people were so angry,"
he said.
The former lawmaker said that the BJP wouldn't be able to change the voter lists in its favour
because the Opposition parties are so careful and work together.
"Masoodi will lead a meeting where we will soon look at the final draft on its own merits," he
said.
"We'd find out where they got 7.72 million new voters and who they are. If they are locals,
there's no problem, but we won't let anyone in who isn't listed in the J&K population register, he
said.
Senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta, on the other hand, said, "When opposition parties ran J&K,
West Pakistani refugees, Valmikis, and Gurkhas were always denied the right to vote in
assembly elections. When the special summary revision of voter rolls began, they said that the
BJP was trying to change the demographics by putting pressure on the election commission.
Officials made sure the process was completely open and honest by going door-to-door and
checking documents correctly.
On Saturday, the J&K Congress said that pressure from the Opposition helped stop the
government from breaking the law when it tried to sign up the 25 lakh new voters.
In response to the fact that 7.72 lakh new voters were added, the JKPCC said in a statement that
the number seemed to be a little bit higher than what had been happening in the past. "It would
need to be looked into more, but pressure from the Opposition stopped any plans to add about 25
lakh new voters, as the then chief electoral officer had said too soon."
"Now that all the requirements for assembly elections have been met, the elections shouldn't be
put off any longer," it said.
