Representation of People Act 1950, 1951 applicable in J&K after Article 370 abrogation: Officials on voting rights to non-locals

 The Representation of People Act 1950 and 1951 is applicable in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, which allows the ordinarily residing person to get registered in electoral rolls of UT of Jammu and Kashmir, said government officials on Thursday.

The statement comes a day after the Election Commission announced it would give voting rights to those who were not voters in Jammu and Kashmir’s Special Summary Revision. The move was opposed by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti who called it the “last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy”.

“After the abrogation of Article 370, Representation of People Act 1950 and 1951 is applicable. It allows ordinarily residing person to get registered in electoral rolls of UT of J-K, provided he/she gets the name deleted from the electoral roll of his/her native constituency,” said the government officials.

“Even prior to the abrogation of Article 370, those ordinarily residing in UT were eligible to get registered in electoral rolls. They were categorised as Non-Permanent Resident (NPR) voters. During the last Parliamentary elections there were approx 32,000 NPR voters in J-K,” they added.