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| Concept of Democracy in J&K reduced to local bodies polls: Harsh Dev | | |  Early Times Report
Udhampur,Jan 30: Former Minister and Chairman AAP J&K today said that with the Election Commission of India apparently focussed on holding elections in nine states of the country besides conducting bye-Elections in several other states this year, the restoration of democratic govt in UT of J&K seemed to be the last priority of the GOI as well as the ECI. All discussions on restoration of democracy ultimately culminate in the so-called successful conduct of Panchayat and Municipal polls.
The concept of democracy in BJP rule has been reduced to local bodies polls with no sincere effort having been made to install an elected govt in J&K. And now once again enough hints were being dropped regarding the conduct of local bodies polls in the near future without uttering a word about the conduct of Assembly polls in J&K. He said that local bodies of the UT needed to be given ample time to complete their term and any arbitrary decision to pre-maturely end their term and pre-pone their elections would be fought tooth and nail.
Singh said that with the ECI now concentrating on holding Elections in various other states of the country as per the schedule, the erstwhile state of J&K deprived of democratic govt for the last more than 4 ½ years, the Assembly having been suspended and eventually dissolved in 2018, did not appear to be finding the desired attention of either the poll bodies or the centre, said Mr. Singh. He was addressing public meetings in villages Tandhar and Mandal of Chenani constituency today.
Singh said that while delimitation of DDC constituencies in J&K was effected within two weeks by the present dispensation in 2020 and the said elections conducted immediately thereafter so as to constitute the District local bodies, the helmsmen had maintained a studied silence over the much delayed polls for the top legislative body of the UT. He said that with Assembly Elections delayed and denied, political process having been rendered defunct in J&K and political parties discredited and discouraged, the centre seemed to be hell-bent to deprive J&K of a democratically elected govt.
Asserting that the BJP govt at the centre seemed averse to handing over power to sons of soil in J&K, Mr. Singh said that it wanted to continue its proxy rule in the new UT and retain all powers to itself. He said that the people of J&K were being deprived of their democratic rights of having a duly elected govt of their choice. The last elections in J&K having been held in 2014, the BJP govt still seemed dis-inclined to hand over power to the people even after a lapse of several years thus giving a fatal blow to the democratic values enshrined in the Indian constitution.
With the last Assembly having been dissolved over four years back, the elections to J&K legislature were required to be held immediately thereafter in consonance with the rule of law. The BJP regime however not only defied the democratic norms and procedures but also overlooked the basic law enunciated by the Supreme Court which envisaged holding of “Assembly elections within 6 months in all States where Assemblies were prematurely dissolved”.
With uncertainty looming large over the restoration of popular govt, the UT of J&K was doomed to be governed by proxies from outside the state having hardly any accountability to the masses whom they ruled. |
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