Will go on hunger strike if non-locals enrolled as voters in J-K: Sajad Lone

Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Monday said his party will hold protests including going on hunger strike outside all constitutional institutions of the country if any nonlocals were enrolled as voters in Jammu and KashmirThe former minister who was an ally of the BJP till 2018 distanced himself from a meeting convened by National Conference president Farooq Abdullah to discuss the issue of nonlocal voters saying the effort was not a serious as it was being held publiclyWe will wait till 1st October when the draft electoral rolls are published If there is any wrongdoing if the electoral demography is sought to be changed we will hit the streets not only here but in front of all constitutional institutions of the country like Parliament We will go on hunger strike This battle cannot be fought hereWe have to make people of India aware about what is happening Lone told reportersAlso Read Peace cannot be restored by army and police in Kashmir Farooq AbdullahReferring to the clarification of the union territory administration on the issue of nonlocal voters he said We neither accept nor reject the clarification in totalityLone who was accompanied by party leader and former law secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Mohammad Ashraf said under the Constitution of India enrolling outsiders as voters in Jammu and Kashmir was not possibleIf we go by interpretation of Ashraf sahib about the relevant law there is no possibility of enrolling such huge numbers of nonlocals as voters in Jammu and Kashmir by 1st October unless the government wants to do it So it is not the law which is a threat to us we are scared of those who are implementing the law On test here is the intentions of the those who are as on date running the state here or from the union government We will wait till then he addedElaborating on the reasons for opting out of the all party meeting Lone said it should have been held in a discreet mannerIf this effort all party meeting was serious it would not be held under media gaze Had it been serious we would have met and you media would not even know about it I dont agree with politics of Farooq Abdullah but I have immense respect for him Lone saidAlso Read Srinagar court summons Farooq Abdullah in cricket scam caseHe said the all party meeting seemed to be a pointscoring exercise and he would not want to be a part of itOne lady Mehbooba Mufti says call an all party meeting and the other makes phone calls for it Also tell me How much can we pretend We abuse each other politically 24 hours a day I have hurled abuses at them yesterday they have done it day before How long can we pretend that everything is hunky dory he saidMehboobaji desperate to retrieve her lost ground issues diktat for calling all party meeting Maharaja Hari Singhs era has long gone by he addedLone however said if anything concrete came out of the all party meeting his party will support it wholeheartedly and expected reciprocal attitude from the participants in meeting for his efforts to deal with the issue of nonlocal votersAbdullah had called the meeting to discuss the issue of inclusion of nonlocal voters in the electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir after remarks related to the addition of voters in the revised rolls by the UTs Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar raised hackles of the regional partiesThe government on Saturday last issued a clarification saying the reports of a likely addition of over 25 lakh voters after the summary revision of electoral rolls is a misrepresentation of facts by vested interestsDissatisfied with the clarification issued by the Jammu and Kashmir administration on issues related to revised electoral rolls the National Conference and PDP said they will go ahead with the meetingThey claimed the administration has not addressed their main concern on whether outsiders ordinarily residing in JK will be allowed to enrol as votersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever