J&K completes 5-year central rule; political parties raise chorus for early polls

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir on Monday completed five years without an elected government, prompting a scathing attack from the mainstream National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party over the delay in restoration of democracy in the Union Territory. On August 5, 2019, the Centre revoked Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti resigned from the post of the chief minister on June 19, 2018 after alliance partner BJP withdrew support to her coalition government.

In a sarcastic tweet, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday said democracy in India ends where Jammu and Kashmir begins.

"Democracy is in our veins, it is in our culture'; ‘India is the mother of democracy’; ‘India is the temple of democracy’. Great sounding words that the international community lap up & regurgitate ad-nauseam. Meanwhile J&K completes 5 years under central rule today. Democracy ends where J&K begins," he tweeted.