EC team in J&K to review poll preparedness; meets representatives of parties
J&K has been without an elected government since June 2018 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led coalition government
A delegation of the Election Commission (EC) met representatives of different political parties in Srinagar on Thursday as it began its two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to review the preparedness for the first assembly polls in the Union territory (UT) since 2014, people aware of the matter said.
A three-member team of chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and SS Sandhu held separate deliberations with leaders across party lines at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) as it began the process to decide the schedule for the crucial polls. During the meetings, representatives of different parties urged the poll body to hold the elections at the earliest and ensure a level playing field.
“We told the EC members that some concrete decision should come out of the meeting. The people of J&K want to have their own government. We requested them (the EC) to ensure a level playing field without any bias,” National Conference leader Nasir Aslam Wani, who led a five-member party delegation, said after the meeting.
The restive Union Territory has been without an elected government since June 2018, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led coalition government, leading to the imposition of President’s Rule and dissolution of state assembly. In August 2019, the Centre revoked Article 370 of the Constitution which gave special status to the region, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two UTs— J&K with an assembly and Ladakh without one.
On December 11 last year, the Supreme Court upheld the revocation of Article 370, but directed EC to conduct polls for the 90-member J&K legislative assembly by September 30, 2024, and asked the Centre to restore statehood to the region “as soon as possible”. In May 2022, a three-member delimitation commission redraw the new electoral map of J&K, earmarking 43 seats to the Hindu-majority Jammu region and 47 to Muslim-majority Kashmir, making up a total of 90 seats for the UT’s assembly, up from the previous 83. Out of the seven new seats added, six were allotted to Jammu and one to Kashmir. The Opposition parties in the region rejected the panel’s decision, calling it a bid to consolidate BJP’s vote bank. The BJP rejected the charge, accusing the Opposition of misleading the people.
PDP leader Khursheed Alam, who was part of the party’s delegation that met EC, said the people of J&K should have the right to elect their own government.
“The county believes in democracy, so we should have elections immediately. We told the EC members about how the Amarnath pilgrimage was held peacefully, and a large number of people participated in the Lok Sabha polls as well. We also apprised the commission about the problems people are facing due to the absence of an elected government,” he said.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, J&K recorded a voter turnout of 58.46%, the highest in 35 years. The BJP won two seat, the NC two and an independent won one.
The heightened political activity in the region comes against the backdrop of a surge in terror attacks in the Jammu region, prompting the country’s political and defence brass to review the security situation in J&K. Political leaders said that they urged EC to ensure adequate security arrangements are made to ensure free and fair polls.
“We urged them to hold elections at the earliest and ensure that the security issues of political leaders are addressed,” Congress’s J&K vice-president Ghulam Nabi Monga said.
Former BJP legislator and senior party leader Surinder Ambardar said they focused on the “security and administrative concerns” of parties during their meeting with the EC team.
“We told the EC that assembly elections haven’t been held for a long time in J&K and they should be held immediately, “ he said.
After meeting representatives of political parties, the EC delegation held a meeting with deputy police commissioners and senior superintendents of police (SSPs) of all 20 districts on the security situation in J&K.
On Friday, the commission is scheduled to hold meetings with J&K chief secretary Atul Duloo and director general of police (DGP) RR Swain as part of the process to decide the poll schedule for UT. The three-day visit will culminate on August 10 at Jammu where EC will hold a review meeting with enforcement agencies and hold a press briefing.