The leaders of the opposition have promised to visit Jammu and Kashmir to evaluate the situation on the ground and hear the grievances of the people. This assurance came after a delegation led by National Conference President Farooq Abdullah met with them in New Delhi seeking their support for the early holding of J&K Assembly elections and the reinstatement of statehood.
In addition, a coordination team will be established between a group of MPs and J&K leaders. The purpose of this team is to receive regular updates on the ground situation in the Union Territory and address issues by raising them both within and outside Parliament.
Farooq Abdullah, speaking over the phone from New Delhi, announced that the opposition leaders will be visiting J&K in May, immediately after Ramzan. During this visit, a conclave will be held in Kashmir to discuss and deliberate on all issues facing the people of J&K. The purpose of the meeting is to chart out a plan of action, particularly for the reinstatement of statehood and the immediate holding of Assembly elections.
The all party delegation from J&K, comprising representatives from 13 opposition parties, also met the Election Commission of India at Nirvachan Marg and submitted a memorandum to CEC Rajiv Kumar pressing for early Assembly polls in the Union Territory.
“Chief Election Commissioner told us that all necessary exercises such as delimitation of constituencies and revision of electoral rolls were already completed since November last and the polls will be held soon at appropriate time,” Farooq Abdullah further informed and claimed that meetings with the Election Commission as well as the opposition party leaders were encouraging and fruitful.
The delegation informed the CEC and other members of the commission that the Government has been claiming of restoring normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir and that now the onus is on the EC to hold Assembly elections. “We asked why was the commission not taking note of the plight of the people of Jammu and Kashmir who are without elected Government for the last more than four years,” Farooq said.
The 13-member delegation of representatives from Congress, PDP, Panthers Party, Awami National Conference, CPI, CPI(M), and others first had detailed meeting with the opposition parties’ senior leaders, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Sitaram Yechuri of CPI(M), Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD, T R Baalu of DMK and others at the Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi at 1 pm.
During the hour-long meeting, sources said that the J&K delegation apprised the national leaders about prevailing situation in the UT and demanded restoration of democratically elected Government as well as statehood.
The delegation also apprised about the burning issues such as increasing unemployment, no transparency in recruitment process, imposition of Property Tax, eviction drive etc. They explained that Assembly election was the only solution to address all the problems being faced by Jammu and Kashmir.
National leaders of opposition parties assured all support to the J&K delegation and said that the issues would be raised inside as well as outside the Parliament.
During the meeting, sources said, Farooq Abdullah invited the national leaders to visit Jammu Kashmir after the month of Ramzan and take stock of the prevailing situation in absence of elected Government in UT.
Talking to the media persons after the meeting, the senior leaders said that there was unanimity over restoration of statehood and conducting Assembly elections in J&K.
“We all have agreed on the issues. We are ready to visit Srinagar to share the pain of the people of J&K and to give them assurance,” said NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
Farooq Abdullah also briefed the media persons on the occasion and said: “We are all together for restoration of statehood and on the issue of why elections are not being held in J&K when the situation has normalized.”
Later, the delegation of leaders from J&K met the Election Commission of India and submitted a memorandum demanding Assembly elections in the Union Territory. In the memorandum submitted to the poll panel, the J&K leaders said that in disregard to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, an unrepresentative and unaccountable bureaucracy is allowed to run the Government to the discomfort and inconvenience of the general public.
The memorandum, signed by NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, DMK leader T R Baalu, CPI MP P Santosh Kumar and others, said the Election Commission is under the Constitutional obligation to hold Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
The delegation said that any further delay in holding Assembly elections would amount to denial of fundamental and democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and a breach of Constitutional obligations.
“The Panchayat elections and elections to other public representative institutions cannot be a substitute to Legislative Assembly elections and the Government and for that matter, the EC cannot avoid and delay of Assembly elections on that ground,” reads the memorandum, adding that had it been so, there would be no need to conduct Assembly elections in States, as the EC is with due dispatch and punctuality, as is evident from recently held Assembly elections in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland and the elections scheduled to be held in Karnataka.
The opposition leaders said in each case, the argument though, inherently specious, could have been that as Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were in place there was no need to hold assembly elections.
Maintaining that the Assembly polls would be the first and important step towards restoration of all the Constitutional rights and fulfillment of political aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the opposition leaders urged the CEC to announce Assembly elections in J&K without any further delay and notify the polls schedule so that the democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir are restored.
Besides Farooq Abdullah, the delegation from J&K comprised of NC MP Hasnain Masoodi, Harsh Dev Singh, (JKNPP), Ravinder Sharma (Congress) Taranjit Singh Tony (AAP), Rattan Lal Gupta (NC), Gulchain Singh Charak (President Dogra Sadar Sabha), S Amrik Singh Reen (PDP), Hari Singh (CPI-M), Muzaffar Shah (ANC), Sunil Dimple (Mission Statehood), I D Khajuria (IDP), Gagan Pratap Singh (JKNPP), Manish Sahni and Vikas Bahal (Shiv Sena-Uddhav Bala Saheb Thackrey) and Sukhdev Singh (CPI-M).
