Ranbir Singh Pathania
An Indian born in Britain, Rishi Sunak, leads the race for top post in United Kingdom. Another Indian origin lady, Kamala Harris, is the first ever in history, non-white Vice President of United States of America.
To surprise of one and all, J & K, is witnessing a storm in a tea cup over enrolling ‘non-locals’ as voters. The rag-tag, PAGD, is again hogging the headlines while its Chairman, Farooq Abdullah, calls an all party meeting. History bears testimony to the fact. Rhetoric, most of the times, has taken better of reason and rationale, hereinover.
Nevertheless, situation as on ground has altogether changed.
A new constitutional, quasi federal and a political too arrangement has been put in place.
Common man has come to understand and rather acknowledge and acclimatise to it. But politicians have not as yet. Or if, are pretending to not to. Anyhow obsessions and hangovers last long.
Post 5th of Aug, 2019, J&K Representation of Peoples Act 1957 is now a relic of the past. And the offending Section-12(6) of J&K RPA 1957 disqualifying non-permanent residents from right to vote is no more in force.
J & K has inched towards ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.
Now the accepted position remains that people from rest of the country, are to the satisfaction of the ERO concerned, shall be deemed to be ‘ordinarily residing’ in J & K, and can enroll themselves as voters. Same is and has been the case of J & K people who had been enrolled as voters in other states on the basis of their ‘ordinary residence’ in states other than J&K.
What ‘ordinarily resident’ means:
Section 19 as well as section 20 of RPA, 1950, read as, “19. Conditions of registration.-Subject to the foregoing provisions of this Part, every person who-
(a) is not less than eighteen years of age on the qualifying date, and
(b) is ordinarily resident in a constituency, shall be entitled to be registered in the electoral roll for that constituency.
20. Meaning of ‘ordinarily resident’.-
(1) A person shall not be deemed to be ordinarily resident in a constituency on the ground only that he owns, or is in possession of, a dwelling house therein.
(1A) A person absenting himself temporarily from his place of ordinary residence shall not by reason thereof cease to be ordinarily resident therein.
(1B) A member of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State shall not during the term of his office cease to be ordinarily resident in the constituency in the electoral roll of which he is registered as an elector at the time of his election as such member, by reason of his absence from that constituency in connection with his duties as such member.
(2) A person who is a patient in any establishment maintained wholly or mainly for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from mental illness or mental defectiveness, or who is detained in prison or other legal custody at any place, shall not by reason thereof be deemed to be ordinarily resident therein.
(3) Any person having a service qualification shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident on any date in the constituency in which, but for his having such service qualification, he would have been ordinarily resident on that date.
(4) Any person holding any office in India declared by the President3 in consultation with the Election Commission to be an office to which the provisions of this sub-section apply, shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident on any date in the constituency in which, but for the holding of any such office, he would have been ordinarily resident on that date.
(5) …….”
How CEO, J & K, was misread:
Firstly, procrastination of enrolment of 25 lakh voters which sparked off a bitter political slugfest was erroneous. As per 2011 census total population of J&K was 01.25 crores. Total number of voters in 2019 Lok Sabha elections in J&K was 78.4 lakh. No doubt this is a massive voter revision which is being carried after a period of three years. West Pak refugees, Valmikis, Gorkhas and daughters residing outside J&K shall get voting rights. The lead, unanswered question remains as to how, this staggering figure of 25 lakhs has been speculated.
Secondly, quoting election department of J&K, it has been says that RPA, 1950 has come into operation after 5th August, 2019. I hold the opinion that RPA 1950 was applicable to J&K even before 5th of Aug, 2019 because:
1. It’s name misses in the list of laws, in Vth schedule of J & K Reorganisation Act, 2019, made applicable to J & K.
2. The said act unlike RPA 1951, does not contain an exclusionary clause ‘Except state of J&K’.
3. Clause 13 (b) of the Act dealing with appointment of EROs in J & K has repeatedly been relied upon for appointing EROs.
4. 1st schedule of the Act notifies Lok Sabha seats of J&K and 2nd schedule of the act notifies Vidhan Sabha seats in J&K.
Thirdly, a perception has been built just out of thin air that all state laws of J & K have been nullified. While, grassroots level fact is that 153 laws passed by J&K legislature and 11 made during governor’s rule have been repealed. One hundred and sixty six legislations passed by J & K legislature as well as those made by LG government are in proper place.
Biggest stake holders in J&K are youth. Till now, they have been but shown green pastures, rosy pictures. They have been misled, again and again. We need to put our heads together. Rather wasting away our valuable time, energy and potential in half-truths and hallucinations.
Lastly, let me quote, Alexander Pope,
“A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again”.
(The columnist practices law in the J & K High Court and was member of 11th J & K Legislative Assembly.)
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