Jammu withdraws voter registry order within hours

JAMMU/SRINAGAR: The Jammu administration late on Wednesday night withdrew a notification on voter registration that had been heavily criticised. The original order by DC and district election officer Avny Lavasa said, “It has been noticed that some eligible voters are facing hardship in registering as voters due to unavailability of (the stipulated) documents. To ensure tha t no eligible voter is left behind, tehsildars are authorised to issue certificates of residence after necessary field verifications. ”
PDP chief and ex-CM Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the administration’s move was an extension of the Centre’s “colonial settler project” in J&K. “Their aim is to change the population ratio in J&K,” she said.
Farooq Abdullah’s NC urged people to “defeat these conspiracies at the ballot box”, while Democratic Azad Party chairperson Ghulam Nabi Azad feared “social tensions” would rise in the wake of people getting entry into the voters rolls on the basis of certificates issued by tehsildars.
PAG D had on Saturday announced the formation of a 14-member panel to chalk out a strategy to foil “manipulation and inclusion of non-locals in revised electoral rolls”.
BJP defended the Jammu administration’s order, saying it was in line with Representation of the People Act. The summary rolls revision process in Jammu & Kashmir started on Septem ber 15. The documents currently accepted as proof of residence for inclusion in the r olls are water, electricity or gas connection bills that go back at least a year; Aadhaar; current passbook of any nationalised/scheduled bank or post office; an Indian passport; land records of the revenue department; a registered rent/lease deed in the case of tenants; and a registered sale deed if the person ow ns real estate. The guidelines said in the event of these documents being unavailable, “field verification is a must”.