Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 18: Expressing strong reservations over the move of EC to enroll 25 lakh new voters, especially outside voters, under the misplaced interpretation of the category of “ordinarily residents” of Jammu and Kashmir, the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee questioned “will the residents of J&K or outsiders elect their representatives in the next elections.”
In a joint statement JKPCC working president Raman Bhalla, Ravinder Sharma , Yogesh Sawhney, Manmohan Singh, Rajnish Sharma, Shah Mohammed Chaudhary and Advocate KK. Pangotra questioned, ” How come EC know the exact number of outsiders, entitled to become voters in J &K, when they have yet to apply. How and why the provision is being misused, to enroll those as voters, who are otherwise not eligible.”
They viewed that the provision of “ordinarily residents” as contained in Section 20 of the Representation of Peoples Act is primarily meant to protect the voting rights of those who are temporarily outside their respective place of residence in connection with job, business, profession, studies, treatment, prison etc. But it is being deliberately misused to give undue benefit to non-eligible persons.
“This clearly demonstrates that BJP has lost local support, so it wants outside voters to be enrolled to defeat the mandate of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” the JKPCC leaders observed.
Follow our WhatsApp channel