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| Assembly elections: Near or far* | | | Dr. Banarsi Lal and Dr. Pawan SharmaSatwant Singh Rissam | 1/23/2019 10:31:21 PM |
| The state of Jammu
and Kashmir has
been without an elected government for more than seven months now. Although as per the rules the fresh polls in J&K have to be held six month after dissolution of the assembly yet there are four ideas that are making round in the political and social circles relating to fresh elections. Firstly, there are group of politicians and people who want that assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir should be held prior to the upcoming parliament polls. Secondly, there are some who want that assembly elections in the state should be held along with parliament polls. Thirdly, there are small number of people who support the idea that assembly elections should be conducted after the parliament polls by further extending the President's rule after May 21, 2019. Fourthly, there are few others who want that the polls should be pushed towards end of this year. The reason behind all such different thought process to hold fresh assembly elections in the state is because of the political convenience of each group.
But this all speculation may end soon as it is believed that team of Election Commission of India (ECI) shall be is visiting Jammu and Kashmir to take a final call on the timing of assembly polls. The ECI team will hold consultation with different political parties, officials from security establishment and state administration to decide on timing of the polls. The political (opposition) leaders in Jammu and Kashmir want that popular government should be reinstated at the earliest. At the outset, I believe that the elections would help to restore the democracy which somewhere has shattered after the PDP- BJP coalition government failed and hence it may become a starting point to reduce the prevailing imbalance within regions. This in total will be amongst the greatest challenges before the new state government. Till now the Governor with a group of advisors is running this state but it is important that the political leadership should come forward to bring a solution to the prevailing problems of Jammu and Kashmir where the youth in particular is losing its belief in the whole system.
Inspite of all these speculations about the timing of polls in the state, all the political parties are on toes as they fear that chances of simultaneous polls in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Lok Sabha polls are high. This thing also gained importance after the Governor Satya Pal Malik revealed that all political parties in the state, except for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have expressed their support for holding polls simultaneously. Keeping this in mind the parties have started political meetings, announcements and promises in order to regain the faith of the voters. As elections appear near the National Conference (NC) led by Dr Farooq Abdullah has started with its main theme of autonomy and is promising to end regional disparities once NC is back in the government. Moreover, this time the NC has brought in a twist in their campaign by demanding absolute majority for NC and by highlighting how the coalition governments have failed in the state. But only time will tell how well these ideas go down with the voters. If I talk of PDP then I think they are yet to get into political mode as its leadership crisis is not settling down. Although the PDP is the principal opponent of NC in Kashmir but its present situation doesn't give it any kind of benefit where it may pose any opposition to NC in the upcoming elections. Presently, the whole situation for the PDP is quite opposite from the days it was formed with a plan to bring self rule in Jammu and Kashmir. The upcoming elections this year would be the biggest test for the PDP in the whole state as it has reached a situation where it may lose its political ground to a very high level.
The political situation for the BJP is also not good because the BJP came into power by promising resolution of the Kashmir problem and for getting Jammu its due share in the power corridors. Besides, all the things have turned negative for BJP in last some years because while promoting democratic process they became an ally of People's Conference (PC) led by Sajjad Lone (an heir of Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Lone). This step didn't go well in the minds of Jammuites as they have developed a firm belief that BJP has shifted to a new strategy under which it considers its political survival a foremost issue and has forgotten all its promises which they made with the voters in Jammu region. Somewhere the situation in 2019 for BJP in Jammu is totally different from 2014 and keeping this in mind BJP has once again kept its hope only on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is coming next month to Jammu and Kashmir with a main focus on Jammu and Ladakh regions. Finally if I talk of the Congress party in Jammu and Kashmir, it appears sure of its comeback because it's main opponent in Jammu region i.e. BJP has lost its ground. Although local leaders of Congress appear confident of making a comeback but I think factionalism here might create a problem for the party as it will further increase when the time of ticket distribution will come. Another problem which could struck Congress here is that new and young faces will give fight to old and senior leaders who aren't ready to leave the turf. Notably, with the building political atmosphere of the state the assembly elections appear near but if I go by the prevailing mood in the country it appears far. |
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