Ishfaq-ul-Hassan
SRINAGAR—Worst fears of mainstream political parties have come true after Election Commission decided to include 25 lakh new voters including outsiders.
Minus BJP, all parties are seeing the move as an attempt to change the demographic status of only the Muslim majority region in the country.
“Our identity could be wiped out. The identity of a Dogra, Kashmiri, Pahari or Gujjar, or Sikh, everyone who resides here, will be wiped out in this manner. The Assembly will be in the hands of outsiders and the people of J&K will be left powerless,” said Farooq Abdullah, president of the National Conference and head of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti termed the electoral roll revision an exercise to “disempower” the local population. “Government of India’s decision to defer polls in J&K preceded by egregious gerrymandering tilting the balance in BJP’s favour, and now allowing nonlocals to vote is obviously to influence election results. The real aim is to continue ruling J&K with an iron fist,” she said.
People’s Conference led by former separatist leader Sajad Lone called the move “dangerous” and “disastrous”. “This is much more than a mischief. Democracy is a relic, especially in the context of Kashmir. Please remember 1987. We are yet to come out of that. Don’t replay 1987. It will be as disastrous,” he said.
The apprehensions may not be unfound given the series of decisions taken by the centre post abrogation of Article 370. Not only was J&K stripped of special status, but it became the first state in Independent India that was downgraded and divided into two union territories.
If it was not enough, Delimitation Commission recommended 43 assembly seats for the Jammu division and 47 seats for the Kashmir region.
For the first time, nine Assembly Constituencies (ACs) have been reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, out of which, six are in the Jammu region and three in Kashmir. The constitution of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state had no provision for the reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly.
As per the final Delimitation Order, out of the 90 Assembly Constituencies in the region, 43 will be part of the Jammu region and 47 for the Kashmir region keeping in view the provisions of Section 9(1)(a) of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Section 60(2)(b) of Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Delimitation order said.
Chief electoral officer Hirdesh Kumar said after the abrogation of Article 370, many people who were not enlisted as voters in the erstwhile state of J&K are now eligible to vote and in addition, anyone who is living ordinarily can also avail the opportunity to get enlisted as a voter in J&K.
He said the projected 18-plus population of J&K is around 98 lakhs, while the number of enlisted voters is 76 lakh according to the last voter list. “We are expecting an addition of 20 to 25 lakh new voters in the final list.
The number of electors as published in the Special Summary Revision of Jammu and Kashmir state in 2011 was 66,00,921 and the number in the electoral roll of the Union Territory now is 76,02,397, the government said.
“This increase is mainly due to the new voters, who attained the age of 18 years,” the government added.
Is it as simple as the government wants people to believe? There is something more than meets the eye.
According to the 2011 census, the united Jammu and Kashmir’s population is 1,25, 41,302. Jammu division has a 53.5 lakh population, and the Kashmir division has 68.8 lakh. Around 68.31 % of people are Muslims, while 28.44 % are Hindus. Christians are 0.28 %; Jains are 0.02 %, Buddhists 0.90 % and Sikhs 1.87 %. Accordingly, Kashmir has a population of 6.89 million, while Jammu has 5.38 million. Jammu and Kashmir was the only Muslim majority state before August 5, 2019, when the Centre abrogated Article 370 and downgraded it into two union territories.
“At present, the number of non-J&K residents who have been given voting rights is 25 lakh. Tomorrow the number may go up to 50 lakh or 1 Crore. J&K’s identity is facing a direct assault as Dogra’s, Kashmiris, Sikhs, and other communities are losing their identity,” said Farooq Abdullah.
