Parties flay election panel’s deferment of J&K assembly polls

The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to not hold the elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly along with the Lok Sabha polls has sparked off a fresh round of arguments.

The ECI had announced a seven-phase general election, starting April 11. The elections to the state assemblies of Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha will be held along with the Lok Sabha polls. National Conference leader and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “With the amount of international attention elections in J&K attract I never thought PM Modi would be willing to confess his failure on a global stage but we all make mistakes & that was mine.”

He asked Union home minister Rajnath Singh of the ‘promise’ the latter had made to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as well as to the all-party meeting recently. Rajnath Singh had reportedly told the meeting that ‘all forces would be made available for simultaneous polls.’ Elections are due in J&K after the ruling BJP-PDP alliance fell apart in June, 2018.

The Congress, which last had a Chief Minister in the state in Ghulam Nabi Azad, from 2005 to 2008, was looking to cash in on the anti-incumbency wave. The party could have cashed in the general wave of apprehension in the wake of the Balakot airstrikes and the Centre’s brazen handling of stone-wielding mobs in the state.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress Committee president GA Mir said, “The Centre’s tall claims regarding the situation in the state stands exposed. The Centre has itself certified that the situation has is out of control and not conducive for simultaneous polls,” he said.

Congress was quick to voice the oft-heard ‘self governance’ and ‘autonomy’ sentiment of the state. The JKPCC chief said this was one golden chance for the Centre to give the state an elected government.

The ECI had set up a three-member committee to ‘assess the ground realities on the conduct of simultaneous polls.’ Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora told mediapersons recently that the prevailing security situation had to be taken into account. He said the availability of adequate security forces had to be ensured. “There would be at least 8 candidates per constituency. Adequate security should be provided to each candidate and that puts the security forces under tremendous stress,” Sunil Arora said. Omar Abdullah said the elections were not being held in time for the first time since 1996. He said everyone should remember this the ‘next time they praise Modi for strong leadership.’

J&K chief electoral officer Shailedra Kumar urged the stake-holders to ‘respect the wisdom of the ECI.’ He said the administration was on heightened alert after the recent Pulwama terror attack. Senior CPM leader MY Tarigami also questioned the ECI decision. He said this would send out wrong signals to the people. “If the atmosphere is not conducive, how could the Lok Sabha polls be held,” he said.