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Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti was up in arms on April 26, as a group of parties, including the BJP, wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to postpone elections for the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat.
“The ECI order to the J&K administration (to assess accessibility in Anantnag-Rajouri) has shocked me. It’s after a long time that the people of J&K have reposed faith in democracy. This government has snatched everything. Don’t snatch the ballots too. Don’t repeat 1987, which left Kashmir burning, filled graveyards and impacted generations,” Ms. Mufti said.
Ms. Mufti’s statement came a day after the ECI sought a report from J&K Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P.K. Pole on “road conditions, weather and accessibility-related constraints” in Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, which will go to polls in the third phase on May 7.
The ECI’s direction came after representations made by BJP’s Ravinder Raina, J&K Peoples Conference’s Imran Reza Ansari, J&K Apni Party’s Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, J&K Apni Party’s Mohammad Saleem Parray and J&K Nationalist People’s Front. Besides, Ali Mohammad Wani and Arsheed Ali Lone, both Independent candidates, have made a similar representation. Interestingly, the BJP is not contesting from the seat.
According to these representations, “candidates from Rajouri and Poonch couldn’t file their nomination papers due to closure of Mughal Road in view of snowfall”.
However, Ms. Mufti took a road trip to Poonch-Rajouri from the Mughal Road on April 25. “I have come from the Mughal Road. It’s open from April 8. It was closed for a few days. Landslides take place throughout the year. The BJP is a rich organisation and can take these parties, which wrote to ECI, in choppers. The PDP is a poor organisation, and workers have paid from their own pockets in the past 20-30 days to campaign. I ask the ECI what is behind the move. Any delay will deny us a level playing field,” Ms. Mufti said.
‘Baseless gimmicks’
In a letter to the ECI, Ms. Mufti said the move “is targeted at derailing our campaign”.
“The Kathua-Udhampur constituency is almost similarly placed geographically and climatically, but the election there has been already held in much worse weather and road conditions. It will be highly dubious to do so now in the last week of the campaigning,” the letter reads.
“The ECI has the distinction of having carried out logistically unhindered elections even in the middle of harsh winter and snow falls and never before in the history of J&K has any election been postponed for weather conditions. The main alliance partner of the petitioners, BJP, is headquartered in Jammu and therefore faces no difficulty in accessing the Pir Panjal,” the letter said.
Ms. Mufti said the parties, which sought the postponement, “apparently see their electoral calculations coming apart”.
“They are now resorting to baseless gimmicks in the obvious belief that the ECI will implement their designs. It will be highly risky not just for the future of democracy in J&K but can also damage the national interest to accede to this preposterous request,” it added.
Ms. Mufti, in the letter, said that she hoped that the ECI would consider the history of J&K before taking any decisions based on geography with such huge implications.
The Anantnag-Rajouri seat was carved out by the J&K Delimitation Commission, set up after the Centre ended J&K’s special constitutional status. It joined geographically two distinct regions, Kashmir valley’s Anantnag and the Pir Panjal Valley’s Rajouri and Poonch.
The two regions are bifurcated by a mountain range. The move was criticised by the regional parties, the National Conference and the PDP, and alleged gerrymandering.
