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| BJP leadership mis-representing, mis-interpreting law over non-local voters in J&K: Harsh | | |  Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 28: Asserting that residents of other States and UTs can't be enrolled as voters in J&K, Harsh Dev Singh Former Minister lambasted the BJP leadership for creating confusion over the subject and endorsing the inclusion of outsiders in the voters' lists of the erstwhile state. He said that in its desperation to import voters from other states for promoting its political prospects in J&K, the BJP was mis-interpreting law and mis-representing the legal postulations. He said that sec-19 and sec-20 of Representation of Peoples Act (RPA) 1950 were being mis-interpreted in view of their hazy, abstruse nature so as to justify the proposed registration of the outside people in the voters' lists of the J&K UT.
Elucidating further Harsh Dev Singh, who is also Lawyer, said that sec-19 RPA Act nowhere states that a person can get himself registered himself as a voter outside his parent State/UT merely on the ground that he is working in connection with his profession in such other State/UT. It merely states that a person can get himself registered as a voter in a constituency wherein he is "ordinarily resident". It is as such necessary to understand that a person does not become "ordinarily resident" merely because he is out of his parent State/UT for service or business or any other profession. This fact is further clarified in sec-20 (1) (A) of RPA Act which states that 'temporary absence' from the place of his ordinary residence does not divest a person of his voting right in the parent constituency/state. In other words, he continues to be a voter of the parent state despite his shifting to other State/UT for his vocation/avocation wherein he can't claim the right to registration as a voter. Likewise sec-20 sub sec-B (3) read with sub sec-8 provides that any member of armed forces does not cease to be a voter of his parent State/constituency only for the reason that he is posted in some other State/constituency in connection with his duties divulged, Singh. He said that nowhere does the RPA Act state that the voter of one State/UT can get himself registered as a voter in some other State/UT for Elections to the Legislative Assembly of that State/UT. In the absence of an express provision in RPA Act to the effect, the existing law is being mis-interpreted by the vested interests to sub-serve their political motives. He said that uniform yardsticks can't be applied for Parliamentary and Assembly elections as the former represents the whole of India including all States and UTs and latter is confined to merely a particular State or UT. Furthermore what right do the outsiders have to decide as to who should represent J&K as its MLAs or Ministers, questioned Singh. |
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