After an all-party meeting on Saturday, Farooq Abdullah, the leader of the National Conference and a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, commented on the contentious decision by the Union Territory governed by the federal government to include roughly 2.5 million non-locals on the voting list.

“All political parties have unanimously decided that they won’t tolerate voting rights to non-locals in Jammu and Kashmir,” After the all-party meeting, Abdullah gave a media conference at his Bathindi home in Jammu. “We are not going to accept this. Locals have the right and not the outsiders.”

“All the political parties attended the meeting today and discussed how to overcome all the difficulties, and biggest of them all today is voting rights to the non-locals, which is not acceptable to us,” the veteran leader said.

At a news conference on August 17, Jammu and Kashmir's chief electoral officer, Hirdesh Kumar Singh, announced that the deadline for everyone who is 18 years of age or older who habitually resides in Jammu and Kashmir to register to vote is October 1, 2022. This would imply that many non-locals in the Union Territory would be granted the right to vote.

According to Muzaffar Shah, the head of the Awami National Conference, the political parties will set up a committee to look at ways to carry this conflict to its logical end. Mehbooba Mufti, the leader of the People's Democratic Party and a former chief minister, Vikar Rasool Wani, the president of the J&K Congress, and former minister Raman Bhalla were also present at the meeting on Saturday.

“We are united on one issue pertaining to the proposed addition of 2.5 million non local voters. We will not allow them to cast their votes here,” said Choudhary Lal Singh, former BJP minister and founder of Dogra Swabhimaan Sangthan. “There is no second opinion about it.”

Although there are disputes between the parties in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh claimed that the topic of the planned voting rights for non-locals has brought them together.

According to Abdullah, the local political parties want to fight back against the assault on the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “We (the political parties) may have separate agendas and issues, but all of us are united on this issue of voting rights to non-locals,” he said.

Abdullah claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to take control of Jammu and Kashmir by any means necessary. “They yell everyday that they will form the next government. Votes have not been polled yet and they say they will form the government,” he said. “I told them to avoid such things because in a democracy, the people decide.”

“We believe that there won’t be 2.5 million non-local voters, but 5 million, and they will be brought from outside to promote the BJP’s prospects,” Shah said.

The Congress, the Shiv Sena, and the Akali Dal (Mann) were present at a similar conference that the local political organisations held in Srinagar on August 22. Also present were all of the members of the Gupkar Alliance, a coalition of all regional parties in Kashmir.

The chief election officer's September 6 meeting with representatives from all major parties could not resolve their issues. The BJP was charged by the PDP with ruining the conference.

Supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party led by former ministers of education Harsh Dev Singh and Taranjit Singh After the meeting, Tony had organised a protest at the Nirvachan Bhawan.

“The BJP doesn’t want assembly elections in J&K and they are being delayed and denied constantly,” Harsh Dev Singh had said. “This is (all-party meet by the CEO) just a drama, a joke today.”

The former minister claimed that these gatherings were little more than "mere optics" and that the government had made no real efforts to reestablish democracy in J&K.

On August 20, the government also clarified the matter, claiming that the reports that there would likely be an increase in voters of over 2.5 million following the cursory modification of the electoral rolls amounted to a "misrepresentation of facts by vested interests."

Reacting to the clarification Mehbboa Mufti tweeted, “The ‘Clarification’ issued by DIPR (Department of Information and Public Relations)is a silent endorsement of the statement given by Chief Election Officer. Doesn’t address our apprehensions about non-locals en masse being given the power to vote.Yet another design to dispossess people of J&K.”

However, the NC, PDP, and other parties have come under fire from the BJP for raising the subject of "inclusion of non-local voters" and have been charged with disinformation campaigns. It has been stated that there was no "locals or non-locals" issue because the Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to vote after k18 years old.