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| Announce elections to J&K Assembly at earliest: Harsh Dev | | 'AAP submits memo to ECI' | |  agencies
NEW DELHI, Nov 29: A deputation of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders led by Harsh Dev Singh, Former Minister and Chairman AAP J&K SCC submitted a memorandum to Election Commission of India in New Delhi seeking early elections and restoration of democratic govt in J&K at the earliest. The memorandum addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner stated thus:- "the J&K Legislative Assembly was suspended in June 2018 due to withdrawal of support by BJP to PDP. Thereafter the opposition parties including NC, Congress and PDP offered to form the govt claiming that they had the requisite numbers. They staked their claim before the then Governor J&K on the strength of their majority in the legislature who however preferred to dissolve the Assembly. And on opposition alleging a foul play in preventing them to form the govt, the Governor claimed that he never received the formal communication in this regard from the said parties as his fax machine was out of order. Shocking but true. And the political parties were made to accept the decision partly under duress and partly under the assurance that elections would soon be held to pave the way for a new govt. The mode and manner in which the Legislative Assembly of J&K was dissolved will, however, remain etched in public memory as a watershed moment in the perversion of fundamental principles enshrined in our democratic jurisprudence. It further speaks volumes about the decadence of constitutional values and collapse of our democratic system in a state like J&K.
The aforesaid episode however is only a tip of the ice-berg. Democracy continues to be abused and outraged by the present rulers behaving as unquestionable despots and running the affairs of the govt for the last four years in J&K through their proxies. And when the people press for restoration of democratic govt, the helmsmen either issue a statement assuring early elections or silence the protagonists of democracy through the coercive apparatus of the state. With all this happening for the last four years, democracy continues to be delayed and denied in J&K on one pretext or the other in contravention of the spirit of the constitution and the 'obiter dicta' and rulings of the Apex Court of the country.
The Supreme Court on varied occasions has held that Assembly Elections must be held within six months in all those States/UTs where Assemblies are pre-maturely dissolved. Even in the recent Judgement of the Supreme Court pertaining to the State of Maharashtra, the top court re-iterated that there is statutory obligation to fill Assembly seats within six months so as to ensure that the people were 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. Denying democratic government is a punishment to the people, as observed by the top court as well.
It is however shocking that the Assembly Elections continue to be denied in J&K on flimsy grounds only to enable the BJP to run the affairs of govt in J&K through its chosen ones. J&K has been deprived of democratic govt for the last four years. Elections are being delayed and denied and continue to be postponed for one reason or the other. Sometimes they are denied on the grounds of the security scenario, sometimes on the pretext of unfinished Delimitation exercise, sometimes on the grounds of Amarnath Ji pilgrimage, while at other times by taking the plea of intense cold or hot weather conditions or heavy snowfall. And while the constitution continues to be subverted by taking freakish excuses to deny Democracy to the people of J&K, the rulings of Supreme Court on time bound restoration of democratic govts in States/UTs too continue to be violated with impunity by the present rulers.
Delaying the elections on the pretext of non-completion of the Delimitation process is also unjustified. When the State of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and the state of Telangana created, no Delimitation was held and Assembly Elections were conducted 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. Even the Delimitation Commission worked at snails pace giving rise to speculations that it had so prolonged the exercise 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.
Pertinent to mention that the Election Commission had earlier taken a call for simultaneous polls of Assembly and Parliament in 2019 which however did not materialize due to the interference by one political party. ECI later issued a statement on 4th June, 2019 stating therein that the EC after the conduct of Amarnath Yatra will announce the election schedule for the conduct of Assembly Elections in J&K it too turned out to be a damp squib. And during the visit of the Full Election Commission headed by CEC to J&K in February, 2019 all political parties except BJP had favoured Assembly Elections in J&K in April-May, 2019. The said Elections were however avoided at the behest of BJP alone to keep the ruling party in good humour. Likewise, statements of early Assembly polls were issued by central govt, Governor and the Lt. Governor of J&K also, which too created only cynicism amongst the masses in view of the frequency with which they were made and then forgotten.
It is now being believed that BJP may never allow elections in J&K as long as it remained in power. It's high time therefore that ECI prevailed so as to save the constitution and democratic rights of the people of J&K".
Among those who spoke on the deputation included Yashpaul Kundal (Ex-Minister), Gagan Pratap Singh, Parshotam Parihar, Raj Kapoor, Lovelu Sambyal, Shan Choudhary, Dr. Mohan Lal, Raj Kumar and Om Parkash Attri.
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