Owais Gul
Srinagar, Mar 16: The political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have expressed resentment over the Election Commission of India’s decision not to hold the concurrent parliamentary and assembly polls in the Union Territory.
National Conference (NC) President and incumbent Member of Parliament from Srinagar constituency, Dr Farooq Abdullah has termed the decision has disheartening, saying that the time was apt to implement the Government of India’s vision of One Nation and One Election.
“We are very disheartened that the assembly polls have not been announced. Four states are slated to go for the simultaneous assembly polls, but in J&K, we have been denied the elections since 2014,” he said.
He added that there could be some suspicious reasons for being out behind the curtains by delaying the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress leader, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, said that the general elections were expected to be announced simultaneously with the rest of the country, but the people in Jammu & Kashmir were hoping for the concurrent parliamentary and assembly elections.
“If the situation is conducive for the LS polls in J&K then why not for the assembly elections,” he said and termed the statement of ECI about the requirement of additional security for conducting assembly polls as a fake reason. “India is not a small state, when security can be arranged for the four states then why can’t for J&K. This is nothing but a fake reason,” he said.
Apni Party Senior Vice President, Ghulam Hassan Mir also expressed disappointment over the ECI’s decision. He said that they were expecting the ECI to announce concurrent assembly and parliamentary polls in J&K.
“It is unfortunate the assembly polls have not been announced by the ECI when people were expecting it. We demand that there be early assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mir said.
Peoples Conference (PC) spokesman, Adnan Ashraf Mir said, “I don’t think we were of the opinion that the simultaneous polls will be announced in J&K, but we hope the assembly polls are held before September this year. The Supreme Court has already passed a direction to ECI in this regard and we just hope that the directions are followed and assembly polls are held before September 2024.”.
