SRINAGAR: After completion of delimitation and revision exercise, Jammu and Kashmir’s final electoral rolls were published on Friday.
Quoting sources NDTV reported that “around 7 lakh” new voters have been added to the electoral list, which is an increase of 10 per cent in the total number. The exercise, carried out after a gap of more than three years, will be formally complete on Friday.
In August, Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Electoral Officer had said that 20-25 lakh new voters would be added during the Special Revision, and that non-locals ordinarily living in the UT would be enrolled. That statement triggered a major controversy and backlash from regional parties who alleged that the central government of the BJP was trying to change poll outcome with inclusion of “imported” voters.
The region had around 76 lakh registered voters before the last Lok Saba elections in May 2019. That number has now risen to 83 lakh, it is learnt. “There may be a small change in the number once the final list is published,” said an official.
The completion of the exercise also paves the way for holding assembly elections. The former state is without an elected government for the last more than four years. The last assembly polls were held in 2014.
Jammu and Kashmir became a Union Territory – Ladakh was carved out as a separate UT – as the region was stripped of its statehood and special status in August 2019.
