Jammu admin withdraws order allowing non-locals to vote amidst massive backlash

New Delhi: On October 12, the Jammu government retracted a circular as a result of the overwhelming criticism it received. The circular recommended granting domicile credentials and voter registration to anyone who had lived in the valley for more than a year.

Many parties and citizens criticized the administration with intent to rig the elections using a modified voters list. This is the first electoral roll change after the abrogation of Article 370. The government ended up reconsidering the proposal and withdrew it. This further evolved in a controversy forcing the government to retrace its steps.

Here is what the circular read

Avny Lavasa, the District Magistrate of Jammu, issued a circular ordering the Revenue authorities to give residency certificates to anyone who have lived in the valley for more than a year and include them in the voter registration process.

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Lavasa, who also serves as Jammu’s district election officer, observed that some recently eligible voters were having trouble registering since the necessary paperwork wasn’t readily available. Many lacked a legitimate form of identification, such as an Aadhaar card, passport, or bank passbook.

She further instructed the officials to give residency credentials to those who have lived in the valley for a year in order to allow these new voters to cast ballots in the next assembly elections.

What was the controversy?

This time around, the updating of Jammu’s electoral rolls is important since it’s the first time since the special status was revoked that this procedure has been done. Only those who had lived in the valley permanently prior to the special constitutional status’ abrogation were allowed to vote. People are now more worried about potential voter list tampering and demographic shifts as a result of the latest addition to the list.

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