news details |
|
|
| Elections may never be held in J&K as long as BJP remained in power: Harsh | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Nov 14: Former Minister and senior AAP leader Harsh Dev Singh has claimed that elections may never be held in J&K as long as BJP continued to rule at the centre. With the present bureaucracy enjoying authority without accountability, a 'free for all' kind of situation prevailed in the erstwhile state, said Singh. He said that the ECI was holding elections in other states without uttering a single word about J&K Elections which are being denied for the last four years since 2018 and which may never be held as long as BJP remained in power at the centre. So much so that even the post of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has been kept vacant for the last several months after the posting of Hirdesh Kumar as Deputy Election Commissioner in New Delhi. And while the date of publication of final electoral rolls was advanced from October 25 to November 25, the present deadline may also be changed and further postponed in view of the highest post of Election authority lying vacant in J&K.
Maintaining that the elections continued to be denied and postponed on one pretext or the other, Singh said that flimsy excuses were being given from time to time to deprive the people of J&K of their right to have a democratic govt and to continue the proxy rule of BJP therein. "If you can manage to hold the reins of power and run the affairs of state without elections, why at all should the ruling party take the risk of seeking peoples' mandate? Asserted Singh adding that the people of erstwhile state and its political leadership seemed to have reconciled to the backdoor rule imposed by the saffron regime. "What an irony! The party which catapulted itself to power on the slogans of "one nation, one constitution" had itself dismantled the age old principles of democracy and denied constitutional rights to the people of J&K for the last four years with no hope of democracy getting restored in the downgraded state under BJP regime", observed Singh.
Pointing towards the constitutional provisions and the rulings of the Supreme Court, Singh said that the top court of the country had categorically observed that fresh Assembly Elections in all states, wherein the legislatures were prematurely dissolved, needed to be conducted and completed within a period of six months. He divulged that even in its recent judgment pertaining to the state of Maharashtra, the Supreme Court re-iterated that there is statutory obligation to fill Assembly seats within six months so as to ensure that the people are not deprived of due representation. "You can't create a constitutional void, a hiatus situation for the constituencies", the Supreme Court has again observed adding further that it is the people who eventually suffer in the absence of an elected representative to espouse their cause. It therefore is a punishment to the people, said Singh while quoting the Judgment of the Apex Court of the country.
Singh said that delaying the elections on the pretext of non-completion of the Delimitation process is also unjustified. He revealed that when the State of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and the state of Telangana created, no Delimitation was held and Assembly Elections were held immediately thereafter. It was then stated that no delimitation can take place in the country before first census after the year 2026 in view of constitutional Amendment effected by the then NDA govt in 2001-2002. In the case of J&K however, the very same NDA was adopting different yardsticks to delay and deny elections with a view to continue its proxy rule. He said that Delimitation Commission working at snail pace also had given rise to speculations that it was doing so at the behest of BJP. With the people having been deprived of popular rule and their right to have an elected govt of their own, the onus also lay on the ECI and Delimitation Commission to explain and justify their role as autonomous bodies. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
