The story so far: On August 17, the J&K Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Hirdesh Kumar, announced that anyone “who is living ordinarily in J&K” can avail the opportunity to get enlisted as a voter in the Union Territory in accordance with the provisions of the Representation of the People Act. He said that many people who were not enlisted as voters in the erstwhile State of J&K are now eligible to vote after the reading down of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. The Election Commission of India (ECI) was expecting an addition of 20-25 lakh new voters in the final list in J&K, he added.
Who else is eligible to vote?
Mr. Kumar suggested that armed forces posted in J&K could also register as voters and could possibly participate in the first ever Assembly polls in the youngest Union Territory (UT) of the country. The CEO said the existing electoral roll is being mapped into the newly delimited Assembly constituencies as per the Delimitation Commission’s final order made applicable by the Union Law Ministry with effect from May 20, 2022.
