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| Reissuing notification for Hazratbal not fair: Baig | | | Early Times report
Srinagar, May 01- Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the Election Commission of India (ECI) has failed to pursue a proper course of action in the fiasco over acceptance of faulty nomination of the ruling National Conference candidate for by-election to the Hazratbal assembly segment.
“Instead of reissuing the notification for by-election to Hazratbal assembly segment, the Commission should have rejected the faulty nomination of Dr Mustafa Kamal, and continued with the scheduled poll process, as was done in a case of similar nature in Vidhisha constituency of Jharkhand,” senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig told the Election Commissioner S Y Qureshi at a meeting here today.
Heading the PDP delegation at the meeting with the Election Commissioner, Baig said the ECI action of reissuing the notification for the by-poll to Hazratbal is giving the ruling NC candidate another opportunity to rectify his mistake while penalizing the other candidates who had put in so much of effort to prepare for the polls. “This seemingly partisan action of the ECI has created severe doubts in the public domain over the credibility of the poll process,” he said.
Baig also apprised the Election Commissioner of the State Government’s dubious move of withdrawing security and vehicles of the PDP leaders and office-bearers and also forcing them to vacate the government accommodations in the security zones. He said the Government’s sinister move was aimed at disabling the PDP leaders and office-bearers from canvassing for the ongoing polls and make available an open field to the ruling NC leaders. He said although the party had brought the issue into the notice of the Election Commission earlier also, no action was taken till date to restore the security and vehicles of the PDP leaders.
Drawing the attention of the Election Commissioner towards the misuse of administrative apparatus especially the police force in enforcing bandh and boycott in the PDP-strongholds in Anantnag parliamentary constituency yesterday, Baig said it was ironic and strange that instead of encouraging the voters to turn up for polling, the government machinery was doing the other way round with the ulterior motive of discouraging PDP workers from voting. He said such actions of the official machinery could jeopardize the whole democratic exercise in the State.
Expressing PDP’s apprehension that the ruling NC would try to misuse the official machinery for manipulating electoral process in Srinagar and Baramulla, Baig told the Election Commissioner that the reports of large-scale misuse of administrative apparatus and money-power by NC especially in Srinagar district in 2008 assembly elections has strengthened the PDP’s belief that such malpractices could be repeated by NC this time also. He said the Commission must ensure that the ruling party doesn’t resort to any such practices in the ongoing polls.
Baig complained to the Election Commissioner that most of the polling booths in Srinagar have, reportedly, been established in the houses of the NC workers and leaders while 70 per cent of the staff to be deployed for polling duties in Srinagar has been drawn from Srinagar Municipal Corporation, an organization directly controlled by NC.
Baig said the declining trend of voter-turnout during the NC rule is indicative of the party’s designs of enforcing boycott for electoral gains. He said such undemocratic practices of the NC have led to serious trouble for the State in the past and if not checked these could spell another spell of doom for the State and its people.
Other members of the PDP delegation included Abdul Rehman Veeri, Rafi Ahmad Mir, Sayeed Altaf Bukhari and Peerzada Mansoor Hussain.
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