A delegation of political leaders led by National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah met the Election Commission of India on Thursday, seeking early elections in the Union Territory. The delegation requested the ECI to hold elections as soon as possible now that the delimitation process had been completed. The political leaders also submitted a memorandum to the ECI, in which they called for the restoration of the democratic process in the UT. The memorandum also mentioned that union home minister Ami Shah has stated many times that the government is ready to facilitate assembly elections, but final call has to be taken by the Commission.
Significantly, the signatories of the memorandum included Abdullah, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and other senior leaders of national political parties. Other signatories were DMK, TMC, CPIM, RJD, SP, AAP. They have also decided to visit Srinagar in May to assure people of their support. This is the first such attempt by leaders from Jammu and Kashmir to seek support from opposition parties from across the country for the restoration of statehood and democracy in the region. And this initiative has followed immediately after Abdullah rallied opposition leaders from Jammu division last week who they decided to jointly approach the poll panel.
J&K has not had an elected government since June 2018 when Governor’s rule was imposed after the PDP-led coalition government lost its majority following the withdrawal of support by the BJP. The last four years have witnessed a drastic political makeover of the state-turned-union territory, so much so that in many aspects, the current J&K bears little resemblance to what it was pre-August 2019.
Meanwhile, people in Kashmir are eagerly waiting for the elections, as the exercise is expected to lead to the restoration of statehood. No less than the union home minister has made it clear that the statehood of J&K would be restored only after elections are held and a representative government is formed. There have so far been no signs that the centre is reviewing its policy. The return of statehood also makes eminent sense from the centre’s point of view. It seems that the union government wants to first see how the future elected government would look and what its political and governance priorities would be including its approach to the issue of the revocation of Article 370. Also, it is as yet unclear if the centre would be inclined to restore complete statehood or a truncated one on the pattern of Delhi. All we can hope for now is that the elections are announced earlier than later, and September-October will be an ideal time for the exercise.
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