Srinagar: There would be no elections even during the current year as the Centre has extended the term of the Delimitation Commission by one year, triggering sharp reactions in the political circles of Kashmir claiming that it is only aimed at reducing Kashmir’s grip further in the Assembly.
Mainstream political parties, especially the JK Apni Party, have been very active on the ground as they thought Assembly elections would take place during the current year.
Talking to this newspaper, JK Apni Party senior leader Rafi Ahmad Mir said that lack of Assembly will add to the vacuum prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir and the Central government must take a call on the elections so that people feel they have a say in governance. He acknowledged that the administration is not visible on the ground and only the election of political representatives will make the officers responsive to the needs of common people.
Recently, the Union ministry of law and justice issued a notification extending the tenure of the commission headed by Justice (retd) Ranjana Desai by one year. The commission’s term came to end on 5 March and during the previous year, it held only one meeting with the MPs of Jammu and Kashmir in which only two MPs from Jammu participated.
Most of the political parties, especially PAGD, have been advocating the restoration of statehood, including Ladakh, and holding of elections as soon as possible, while saying that they will focus their fight for the restoration of Article 370 through court and on the streets also.
With the extension of one year to the Delimitation Commission, there are remote chances of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir as it was dissolved in the summer of 2018, and since then it is under Central rule.
Yousuf Tarigami, a CPIM leader of Kashmir, told reporters that Jammu and Kashmir has been singled out in delimitation also and said that it is fuelling apprehensions that the BJP is out to play with the demography of Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmiri politicians and senior media people in Kashmir believe that by extending the term of the delimitation commission for one year, the elections would not be held in the near future.
When in February, the delimitation commission held its first meeting, Farooq Abdullah and his two fellows MPs boycotted the meet, saying that it was “unconstitutional”.
It is in place to mention that Farooq Abdullah has written a letter to the delimitation commission, asking it not to go ahead as the decisions of the Central government regarding Jammu and Kashmir have been challenged in the Supreme Court. The government has constituted the commission under Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act. While in the Jammu region, the BJP has advocated with the Delimitation Commission not to give much weightage to the population, but to the geography and local terrain, in Kashmir, political parties have boycotted the commission.