Warning the Central government of “dangerous ramifications” for including non-local voters in the electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir, political parties in the Union Territory staged protests on Friday and asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clarify the inclusion of “outsiders” in the newly released voters list for the upcoming Assembly polls.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Suhail Bukhari led a protest in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. “It’s a protest against the electoral demographic change being forced by the BJP through inclusion of imported voters in the J&K electoral rolls,” Mr. Bukhari said.
Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone said a new set of apprehensions have crept in among the people of J&K after the recent ECI announcement. “The Government of India must come out with unvarnished truth to allay their fears. The statement of ECI officials has heightened the fears of demographic intervention and demographic change. We know the set of laws that prevail across the country but what matters here is not the application of the law but the intentions of those implementing the law,” Mr. Lone said.
