4 min readJammuAug 23, 2022 07:29 AM IST
First published on: Aug 23, 2022 at 03:14 AM IST
The BJP on Monday slammed the parties raising the issue of enrolment of eligible “non-local” voters during summary revision of electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir, and asked leader of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah to explain how PDP leader and former CM of J&K, late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had contested — and won — the 1989 Lok Sabha election from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
Reminding the PDP that after winning that election Mufti had become the Union Home Minister, BJP’s J&K unit president Ravinder Raina also said that the two Lok Sabha elections senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had won were both from Maharashtra — Azad had won from Washim constituency in 1980 and 1985.
Raina asked Abdullah, president of National Conference party and chief of PAGD, an alliance of non-BJP mainstream political parties formed to fight for restoration of J&K’s special status, to also explain how Azad had contested the Lok Sabha polls from Maharashtra.
The remarks came on a day leaders resolved at an all-party meeting in Srinagar that they would not allow any move to extend voting rights in the Union Territory to “non-locals”.
Raina pointed out that many people from J&K who live in other parts of the country have got themselves enrolled as voters there, after surrendering their vote in the UT. “The law is equal for all and Right to Equality has been enshrined in the Indian Constitution as a fundamental right,” he said. “We are all citizens of India and there cannot be any discrimination among us.”
There are many people like refugees from Pakistan, Gorkhas and members of the Valmiki Samaj who are residing in J&K for many years but are not enrolled as voters in the UT, the BJP leader said. But following the changed Constitutional position after abrogation of special status under Article 370, the Election Commission of India has asked all those who are 18 and above, and are not registered as voters, to get themselves enrolled during the summary revision of electoral rolls in J&K. But this has upset parties such as NC, PDP and the Congress, who are “conspiring to disturb the peaceful situation” here, Raina said.
The BJP leader accused these parties of having denied people from Gujjar and Bakarwal, Pahari and OBC communities their rights during successive governments under them. He said Gujjars and Bakarwals are “100 per cent Muslims”, and a majority of Paharis are also from that community. Every fourth person in the Valley, Raina added, is from OBC category, he added.
They are “anti-people and least bothered about the prosperity and development of J&K” under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Raina claimed. “They have enjoyed power only due to boycott politics, with the support of separatists and Pakistan,” he alleged. “They want a return to bomb attacks, stone pelting and strikes.”
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed contested and won the 1989 Lok Sabha election from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, following which he became the Union Home Minister. (PTI/File) 
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