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| Should NC or ECI take final call on Assembly elections? | | |
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Oct 10: The ruling NC is the only mainstream political party that has opposed the holding of the State Assembly elections on schedule in November-December while all other parties have favoured holding the democratic exercise on time.
The 3-member team of EC headed by Deputy Election Commissioner, Vinod Zutshi visited the State for three days interacting with poll officials, senior administration officers and representatives of the political parties.
The political parties including the BJP, PDP, Congress, J&KNPP and other smaller parties have favoured holding of elections on schedule and opposed its deferment to April-May 2015.
The ruling NC has pleaded that holding the State Assembly elections at a time the administration is battling with relief and rehabilitation would seriously impeded the restoration process in flood affected areas.
The NC argument has been that the state administration would get busy with the poll process and the focus would be shifted from relief and rehabilitation to holding of the elections. It has also said distribution of relief would also be affected after the election dates are announced by the ECI and the modal code of conduct comes into force.
Is this the only reason the NC has opposed holding of the State Assembly elections? Reality seems to be far from the state position of the NC so far as the State Assembly elections are concerned.
The State Government has not yet been able to determine the exact damage caused by the recent floods in J&K. It has not been able to quantify the damage so that a memo is submitted to the Central Government for relief. Instead, NC leaders like Mustafa Kamaal have been saying the centre has been discriminatory in delaying relief to the State.
This has been denied vehemently by New Delhi which has now said the State can approach the World Bank and the ADB for reconstruction in flood affected areas. The centre has said it will facilitate and act as a catalyst for any World relief that comes to the flood victims of the State.
The NC's problem with holding of elections is its falling score with the people. After it failed to win even a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections the NC has developed cold feet towards holding of State Assembly elections. That is understandable, but trying to take refuge under flood waters to avoid elections is being callous.
The final decision for holding or deferring the State Assembly elections will be taken by the Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath after he receives the detailed report from the 3-member team that visited the State recently.
Elections are a democratic exercise that cannot be wished away under any pretext, but it must be left for the constituency authority which is the election commission which must take the final call after analyzing all the pros and cons of the situation in J&K including the border shelling of civilian areas by Pakistan. |
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