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| Poll time not conducive for PDP | | | Nirbhay Jammual
Ever since the Election Commission has started its exercise on determining whether the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were to be postponed or not,the PDP Chief,Ms Mehbooba Mufti,has been consistent on saying that the time was not at all conducive for the poll process.She seems to have avoided explaining the reason except for that people are being beaten and there are firings.She has not said anything about the role the separatists and militants have been playing in vitiating the atmosphere in the Kashmir valley.Yes,Ms Mufti has said that mere announcement of the election schedule will be like a red rag.But she has not explained for whom it will be a red rag,for the proverbial bull or for the PDP.
She has said that time was not at all conducive for the poll Coducive for whom ? For the voters,for the people,for the Government or for the PDP or for other main political parties.At present Governor,N.N.Vohra,is the Government and he is in favour of completing the poll process.So holding elections cannot be a red rag to the Government.Mainstream political parties,including the Congress,the National Conference,the BJP,the Panthers Party,the CPIM,the Jamm Kashmir Democratic Party and others are opposed to postponement of the elections.Hence the poll process cannot be a red rag to these poltical parties.It indicates that the time for elections is not conducive for the PDP.It reveals that if the elections are held even towards the end of November they can be a red rag to the PDP.
Ms Mehooba has favoured postponement of the elections.She has not said anything about the possible time when the elections could be held.She has avoided commenting on the auspicious date for the next election because she wants space and breathing time for the PDP.That space has been squeezed by the events that took place in the state following the PDP,'s roar against the diversion of 800 kanals of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board.The PDP pulled out of the Government which resulted in the revocation of the land diversion order.That the PDP did it for the purpose of winning the support of the voters to the extent that it could win absolute majority in the Assembly thereby sparing it of the pains of forming a coalition Government.What seems to have stunned and shocked the PDP leadership is the anger of people in the Kashmir valley against it.They blame the PDP for the rise of violence and the dance of death. Naturally the PDP leadership will demand some breathing time so that it can set its house in order which has been rocked by the two-month long turmoil in the state.For the time being the PDP has lost its base,whatever size and shape it had,in the Jammu region.As such its wants to regain its ground in the Kashmir valley where this party had won 16 seats in 2002 poll when its was hardly a two-year old baby.
And if the National Conference is against postponement of the election it has a purpose in airing its views.It wants to cash on anti-PDP breeze,if not the wave,in the Kashmir valley.There have been more difficult situations in the state,than what is at present,but during those trying times elections were held.If the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Party Chief,Ghulam Hassan Mir,says that a bad elected Government "is better than a good Governor's rule" he says it with the purpose of seeing the PDP out of reckoning.If the BJP and the Panthers Party support timely elections they do it because they believe that they can cash on the peoples' support to their stand on the land row.Whatever one may tell against the PDP its leadership is right because it does want bigger participation of voters in the poll process. |
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