CEC assures assembly polls in J&K after clear inputs on weather, security
Asserting that majority of ground work has been completed, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) told political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir the election will be conducted in Union Territory after clear inputs on weather and security situation.
The assurance from CEC came during a meeting called by Election Commission of India (ECI) to demonstrate Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM) for migrant workers.
Three parties—PDP, NC and National Panthers Party were invited by the ECI from Jammu and Kashmir to meeting. While PDP was represented by its spokesperson Syed Suhail Bukahri and his colleagues, Party Treasurer Shammi Oberoi represented National Conference even as the Panthers went unrepresented.
During the meeting, raised the issue of delay in holding Assembly elections in the Union Territory.
They said that the Election Commission’s proposal for allowing remote voting as an effort to strengthen democracy in the country was ironic as residents of Jammu and Kashmir were not allowed to exercise their right to franchise.
“The intentions of the Election Commission might be good but people make up their minds by what is happening to them. People of Jammu and Kashmir have been denied their right to vote for so many years now,” PDP chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari, who attended the EC meeting on remote voting in Delhi.
He said the Chief Election Commissioner, while taking note of the matter, said the polls will be held as soon as the weather and security situation in Jammu and Kashmir get better.
Bukhari said earlier the “excuse” for not holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir was the process of delimitation of constituencies and updating electoral rolls.
“All the processes have been completed now. The only excuse left for not holding polls is that they don’t want to,” he claimed.
National Conference treasurer Shammy Oberoi, who represented his party in the meet, also raised the issue of uncertainty surrounding the assembly elections in the Union territory.
“@oberoi_shammi while speaking on the issue said that when the government is concerned about facilitating domestic migrants to exercise their voting rights, the 1.4 crore people of J&K continue to remain deprived of exercising their democratic rights,” National Conference tweeted on its official handle.
It is pertinent to mention here that the J&K has been without an elected government since June 19, 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to Mehbooba Mufti-led government.
The last assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir was held in 2014. The delimitation process was completed in May 2022 while summary revision exercise was completed on November 25.
