Dismayed over the Election Commission’s failure to announce the much-delayed Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Lok Sabha polls, former chief minister and National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Saturday questioned why the people of the Union Territory were being deprived of their the right to elect their own government.
Reacting to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar’s silence on Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir while declaring the Lok Sabha poll schedule, Abdullah said: “I feel sad, genuinely sad. On the one hand, the government advocates for ‘One Nation, One Election’, while, on the other, it misses out on an opportunity when it is available. Four states are gearing up for simultaneous parliamentary and assembly elections. Why deny the people of Jammu and Kashmir their right to elect their own government?”
Abdullah said; “There must be something. Something must be brewing in their mind to do something which they can’t do if they hold assembly and parliamentary elections simultaneously. I am quite confident they are not sure they will win here and form the government. They are probably waiting for time and they will cook up something, that is what I believe”.
NC vice-president Omar Abdullah wrote on X; “So much for “One Nation One Election”. The EC is unable to conduct assembly polls in J&K with the general election even when they acknowledge that elections are due”.
Reacting to the situation, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti wrote on X; “J&K enjoyed special status, its own constitution & residuary powers. A state like no other. Reducing it to elections only undermines & trivialises our collective struggle. What purpose does grovelling for elections with a begging bowl serve? More importantly, who does it serve?” she asked.