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EC Under Spotlight in J&K Again as National Conference Says Police Unfairly Cancelled Rallies

Baramulla candidate Omar Abdullah has called the police's “discriminatory action" a “direct assault on democracy and the principles of fair competition in electoral arena” which was aimed at derailing the party's election campaign.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah. Photo: X/@tanvirsadiq

New Delhi: The National Conference has written a letter to the Election Commission of India on the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s “unjust cancellation of prior permissions” granted to the party for its campaign activities in north Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency, where the election is scheduled on May 20.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner on Thursday, May 9, the party’s candidate for Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency and former chief minister of J&K Omar Abdullah called the police’s “discriminatory action” a “direct assault on democracy and the principles of fair competition in electoral arena” which was aimed at derailing the party’s election campaign.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

“The decision to cancel these permissions is not only arbitrary but also a blatant and egregious attempt to surreptitiously disadvantage the JKNC as compared to other political parties,” Omar said, claiming that the police have “no power whatsoever” to deny permission for campaign activities “after the period of campaigning has lapsed”.

Earlier in the day, the National Conference’s chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq told the media that the J&K police had moved the Baramulla district administration to cancel the permissions granted to the party for campaign activities in Baramulla constituency ahead of the polling on May 20.

In a letter, a copy of which is with The Wire, superintendent of J&K police in Sopore had, without citing any reason, urged the additional deputy magistrate of Baramulla to “kindly” direct the political parties to “reschedule the programs” from May 9 to May 18 for which they had already been granted permission.

According to the letter, the SP had called for rescheduling all the NC rallies in Rafiabad segment till May 18, which is interestingly the last day of campaigning for Baramulla constituency. Sadiq, the NC spokesperson, said that Omar was scheduled to address three rallies on May 9, 10 and 12 in Rafiabad.

The Sopore SP’s letter didn’t cite any reasons for seeking a new schedule for election-related activities. Out of the four withdrawn permissions, one was granted to the Peoples Conference for conducting rallies in “Rafiabad/Sopore” from May 9 to May 18.

Omar urged the Election Commission uphold the “integrity of the electoral process” by issuing directions to the SP Sopore to allow the campaign activities and “rectify the injustice that has been caused”.

“Failure to address the said matter promptly and swiftly will only serve to undermine the credibility of the electoral process and erode public trust in the institution created to uphold the values of democracy. We expect swift and decisive action from this Hon’ble Commission to rectify this gross injustice,” the letter stated.

Omar is contesting from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat against the PC chief Sajad Lone, who is widely believed to enjoy the tacit backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Engineer Rashid, the incarcerated leader of the Awami Ittehad Party, and PDP’s Fayaz Mir are other prominent candidates in the north Kashmir contest.

“The campaigning (for Baramulla seat) will end on May 18 and they want us to reschedule our programs from May 9-18. In such a situation, do they expect us to campaign after the election is over?” Sadiq said sarcastically, adding that the denial of permission after it was granted by the authorities was “tantamount to refusing a level playing field for the National Conference”.

“The Rafiabad playground has been designated as a venue for political conventions and rallies. Despite this, the authorities are changing its designation due to security or other reasons which is very unfortunate. We appeal to the ECI to provide us a level playing field. Just because some political party is scared of the National Conference should not be a reason to defer or postpone or reschedule our programme,” he said, without naming Lone’s PC.

The police action has again put the Election Commission under the spotlight in Jammu and Kashmir, with the major opposition parties pointing accusatory fingers at the poll body for turning a blind eye to their grievances ahead of the first Lok Sabha election in the Kashmir Valley after Article 370 was diluted.

Omar’s letter comes days after PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and senior tribal leader Mian Altaf Larvi accused the Election Commission of allegedly participating in a “conspiracy” to derail their election campaign in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat after the commission deferred the poll to May 25 citing logistical issues.

Mehbooba and Altaf are pitted against former PDP leader and Apni Party’s Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, who is believed to have the backing of the BJP. Although the saffron party has not fielded any candidate from the constituency, it has set up assembly-level units to rally support for Manhas.

Earlier, a senior PDP leader said that authorities disallowed a scheduled meeting of the party in Rohama area of Rafiabad on Wednesday, May 8, due to unspecified reasons. “Our candidate was prevented from attending the meeting and stopped en-route,” the PDP leader said.

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