LG slams ‘outside voters’ speculations; calls it assumption-based propaganda

SRINAGAR: Breaking his silence on the 25 lakh voters controversy, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said there isn’t even an increase of 100 ‘outsider’ votes in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Today, I challenge you to check the electoral rolls. After all these years, there isn’t even an increase of 100 ‘outsider’ votes. It is not a good idea to do propaganda based on assumptions. All this talk about change in demographic character — how can it be changed by ‘outsiders’ if the additional registered outsider votes have not increased beyond 100?” Sinha said in an interview.

Lieutenant Governor noted that even during the Parliament election when Article 370 was not abrogated, around 32000 voters were registered in J&K. “ Now, I am saying this with full responsibility: Even then, 32,000 ‘outsiders’ were registered to vote,” he said.

Sinha said an indispensable part of elections is polling stations and electoral rolls. “If electoral rolls have not been updated for four or five years, many voters stand to lose their right to exercise their franchise. As the Election Commission of India is tasked with the job of holding elections, it is in the process of updating electoral rolls. Once that is done, the dates for elections will be announced by the ECI at an appropriate time,” he said.

Lieutenant Governor said everyone here has full freedom to participate in political activity.

“Panchayat elections have been held for all tiers. And an unprecedentedly large number of people participated in the election. District budgets are made by elected representatives. They decide how to spend the money. There are about 20,000 works that fall under the domain of panchayat and district-level representatives. In my understanding, this is precisely what democracy is: That the role of elected representatives should increase manifold in decision-making,” he said.

On recent attacks on Kashmiri pandits, he said these are of conspiracy of those elements who don’t like the fact that 11.6 million tourists have come to Kashmir. “There is a wave of infrastructural development and new projects are being set up both by the government and the private sector. To derail all this, soft targets are being identified and attacked,” he said.

Sinha said the administration is determined to ensure the safety of everyone. “But you will appreciate that providing security to every single person is not possible in any corner of the world. We have been successful in breaking the back of terrorism. Between January and August this year, 136 terrorists have been killed. The country has never seen this statistic. We are attacking the entire ecosystem,” he said.

Lieutenant Governor said they have ended stone pelting and hartals in Kashmir. “There is no stone-pelting, schools and colleges are open, people are going about their business. And many don’t like this. And there is no need to fall into their trap,” he said.

Sinha said the press has full freedom. “There is no curb on freedom of expression. But along with the fundamental right to freedom of expression, there are also some responsibilities. We welcome from the heart, the work of any journalist who criticizes the government based on facts. But if someone spreads hatred in society, if they attack the unity and sovereignty of the country, if they use their job as journalists to maintain connections with terrorist organizations and assist in growing the ecosystem of terrorism, then investigative agencies will certainly do their work,” he said.

He said a journalist’s job is to write. “It is not to fix targets. No action has been taken against anyone based on their work as journalists or in pursuance of legitimate expression of opinion,” he said.