The leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party protested outside the Jammu office of the Election Commission on Monday in protest over the Election Commission’s call for an all-party meeting.
Participating in the demonstration were AAP leaders Harsh Dev Singh, Yashpal Kundal, TS Tony, and Gagan Partap Singh.
Former minister and senior party leader Harsh Dev Singh called these meetings an eyewash. “ Dozens of such meetings have been held in past, but none of the suggestions made by the opposition have been taken on board. Only the decisions taken by the BJP are implemented. First, the delimitation exercise and now the addition of 25 lakh outside voters show that the EC is only implementing the BJP’s suggestions,” he said.
A person from another state cannot be a voter if he is working or temporarily residing in Jammu and Kashmir, ” he said, calling the addition of non-local voters “unacceptable and unconstitutional”.
Due to BJP’s decline in J&K, the law is being twisted and misconstrued.
Tony said, “We are stiffly opposed to the proposed addition of non-local voters. A floating population cannot be made permanent voters. This violates the law.”
The Aam Aadmi Party was not opposed to granting voting rights to West Pakistan Refugees, the Valmiki community and the Gorkha community, who has been living in Jammu and Kashmir for decades, but to the addition of non-local voters, he added.
He also said that both the election commission and BJP are toying with the aspirations of local voters. Clearly, the election commission is now working as a frontal wing for the BJP.