Time to Give J&K People an Elected Govt.: ECI Chief Rajiv Kumar

Srinagar: Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Friday said the people of Jammu and Kashmir are eagerly waiting for the Assembly polls and it was time to fulfil their deep longing. However, the dates will be decided after the final review of the security situation in the Union territory, he added.

“It’s time to give you your elected government. No internal or external powers can derail elections here,” Mr Kumar told the media in Jammu after concluding the two-day visit of J&K at the head of an Election Commission team. During the visit, Mr Kumar and election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu held threadbare discussions with all stakeholders, including leaders and representatives of various recognised national and regional police parties, the government functionaries and the officers of the J&K police and Central armed police and paramilitary forces.

Mr Kumar reiterated that the EC was committed to holding Assembly polls in J&K at the earliest and, while referring to apprehension that the spurt in terror violence in some parts of the UT could impede this, said small attempts to disrupt the democratic exercise cannot derail the process.

Asserting that the EC does not want to see a “chicken and egg” kind of situation, Mr Kumar said: “Our (security) forces can deal with the situation. We will not allow these small attempts to derail the election process in J&K. As far as the exact dates, we will conduct a final security requirement assessment when back in Delhi and announce the poll dates accordingly.”

The last Assembly elections in the erstwhile state of J&K were held in 2014. The state was brought under Governor’s rule following the PDP-BJP coalition government’s collapse in June 2018. J&K was split into the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in August 2019 when its special status under Article 370 was also withdrawn by the Centre.

While some Kashmir watchers and some political parties are pessimistic about the intent of the government at the Centre, Mr Kumar’s assertions at his presser made it somewhat evident that such fears and anxieties are only speculative. However, he kept all in suspense on when the elections will exactly be held.

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had on December 11 last year, while upholding the power of the President to abrogate Article 370, saying the provision was a temporary measure meant to ensure J&K’s integration into India, set a deadline of September 2024 for the EC to hold Assembly elections in the UT.

Asked about it, Mr Kumar evaded a direct reply but said that no internal or external forces can delay the polls in J&K and that the people of the UT “will give a befitting response to disruptive and inimical forces”.

Mr Kumar reiterated that the EC did not delay Assembly polls in J&K. The EC says there was dissonance between the J&K reorganisation and delimitation process and that Parliament had in December 2023 passed two major pieces of legislation amending the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 and the J&K Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 to nominate two members from the “Kashmiri migrant community” and one representing displaced persons from Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) to the J&K Assembly. Hence, the EC’s time to initiate the process of holding elections in J&K started only after December 2023.

Talking about the EC’s discussions with the representatives of various recognised regional and national political parties, Mr Kumar said: “All of them demanded that the Assembly polls be held at the earliest and there be public elected representatives as they have a better connect with the people.” He added: “Also, all of them praised voters and EC for the successful Lok Sabha polls in J&K. They all said it was a historic achievement, it had good participation and no incident (of violence) took place which has boosted people's confidence”.

He said these political parties demanded a level playing field and streamlining of the security cover of politicians. He said they pointed out that the security cover of some of them has been downgraded and that of some others upgraded while some do not have it after a recent security review by the government. “Their perception was that everyone should get equal security so that they can get involved in political activities without any fear, irrespective of the party they are from,” he said.

They also put forth some other demands like polling booths should be within the radius of 2 km and there should be CCTV coverage of polling, he said. He added: “We told them that both these demands have already been met and instructions in this regard have been passed, as well. We have taken note of their other concerns, and it will be ensured that there is a level playing field and a security review of politicians so that they carry out their activities normally. Their yet another demand was that polling stations should not be clubbed at the last minute, and we will ensure no polling booth is clubbed except for a few for geographical reasons.”