Srinagar: The call for rescheduling the election for the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency has triggered a major political row, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) comparing it with the rigging of the 1987 assembly election which is widely believed to have triggered armed insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing separate press conferences on Friday, April 26, National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to avoid rescheduling the election, terming it a “conspiracy” that will cast a shadow on the credibility of the election process. The two parties have also written to the ECI on the issue.
Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party, J&K Apni Party led by Altaf Bukhari, Peoples Conference (PC) headed by Sajad Lone, Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), J&K Nationalist Front and two independent candidates had asked the ECI to reschedule the poll.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
After receiving their representations, Vibhor Agarwal, under-secretary in the ECI, on Thursday, April 25, wrote to J&K’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and chief secretary to “immediately” provide a report on “road conditions, weather and accessibility-related constraints” in the constituency whose electoral boundaries were redrawn following the J&K delimitation exercise in 2022.
Speaking with reporters at the party headquarters in Srinagar, Omar said that the BJP and PC have no locus standi on the election because they have not fielded any candidates from the constituency. He claimed that the BJP and its “partner parties” along with the J&K administration and ECI were planning to avoid the election because the “result will not suit them”.
“Why is the Election Commission taking notice of their objections? Do they want to bring in a candidate from the backdoor? If I object to elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala or Maharashtra, will the ECI take notice? And if my objection will not be considered in these cases, why is the ECI taking notice of objections from those parties who have not fielded any candidates from the constituency?” Omar asked.
The former chief minister of J&K also pointed out that Apni Party’s name has been used twice in the letter to J&K CEO and chief secretary to “exaggerate” the list of the parties who are objecting to the election which is scheduled to be held on May 7.
“If we leave out those who have not fielded any candidates from this constituency, only a few names remain. Thus it is the responsibility of the ECI to consider the views of all the parties. If our view is ignored, it will mean that the decision is a well-planned conspiracy to disturb the election and its consequences will not be good,” Omar said.
According to the ECI, about two dozen candidates have submitted their affidavits for contesting the election from the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat which is divided between Kashmir and Jammu divisions by the Pir Panjal mountains. The Mughal Road offers the shortest surface connectivity between the two geographically distinct parts of the constituency, but the traffic has been partially affected due to shooting stones and mudslides.
However, the two parts of the constituency can also be reached from the Srinagar-Jammu highway. Besides, the advisory issued by the meteorological department on Friday suggests that the weather will remain largely dry around May 7, when the election is scheduled to be held, while traffic might be disrupted on April 28-29.
The NC has fielded veteran tribal leader Mian Altaf from the constituency which has a significant population of nomadic tribal Gujjars and Bakkerwals who migrate to Kashmir with the onset of summer. In a letter to ECI on Friday, Altaf said that the proposal to postpone the election was “part of a deep-rooted conspiracy at the behest of the BJP and its allied parties in J&K, with the intention of disenfranchising a large section of the voters in this constituency”.
“Any move to postpone this election will naturally disenfranchise this (nomadic) population. It has always been the endeavour of the ECI to ensure that every voter who wants to participate in the election is given an opportunity. A move to postpone this election will naturally deny those people the opportunity to participate who otherwise would have participated but may lose out on the opportunity due to postponement,” the NC leader’s letter states.
Former PDP leader Zafar Iqbal Manhas, who is banking on the constituency’s tribal Pahari vote bank, is contesting on the Apni Party mandate. DPAP President Ghulam Nabi Azad was nominated by his party to contest from the constituency. However, the former Congress leader later announced that he was not contesting parliamentary elections and the party later nominated Mohammad Saleem Parray for the contest who is also one of the signatories of the letter to the ECI.
Mehbooba Mufti, who is the PDP candidate, also addressed a press conference in Surankote of Poonch district where she has been campaigning ahead of the election. She said that the BJP-led Union government was “afraid” of the support she had received in the constituency after her nomination.
“People of J&K have reposed faith in the election process after much difficulty. What the BJP government and the ECI want to do will set a wrong precedent. Do they want to repeat the 1987 election which sparked a fire that continues to burn Jammu and Kashmir? This is a conspiracy to keep Mehbooba Mufti out of the parliament. I urge the ECI not to repeat any misadventure,” the PDP chief said.
Wrote to the ECI regarding the proposed delay for the Anantnag – Rajouri Lok Sabha seat. Any attempt to delay it will result in denying a level playing field to all the parties. @ECISVEEP @SpokespersonECI pic.twitter.com/Z347ySvg9u
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 26, 2024
In a letter to the ECI, Mehbooba said that the election for the Kathua-Udhampur constituency, which is “almost similarly placed geographically and climatically”, was held on April 19 in “much worse weather and road conditions”. She said that the elections in J&K have been conducted by the ECI “even in the middle of harsh winter and snowfalls and never before in the history of J&K has any election been postponed for weather conditions”.
“Before the ECl considers the issue on the basis of the road and weather conditions, it may also take a review of the political and campaigning activities of all the signatories to the petition who comprise the BJP State President Ravinder Raina and their allies. They have no lack of resources and in fact their common candidate lives along the Mughal Road. So far how many meetings he has undertaken in the south Kashmir part of the constituency or Pir Panjal areas, may be considered,” the letter states.
Terming the call by the BJP and other parties as “preposterous”, Mehbooba said in her letter that changing the election schedule will “compromise…the principles of democracy and free and fair elections”. She said that J&K is a “conflict marred area and lack of democracy has been a major reason for our troubles”.
“J&K and the entire region have been subject to rigged elections and our electoral history has affected generations of people here culminating in huge uprising and violence since late 80s of the last century whose ghosts are still around. It will be a betrayal … and obviously one fears that it could be another flash point in our turbulent history,” the letter states.
