Srinagar: Who is responsible for delay in holding the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir after completion of the delimitation exercise in 2022? This question has gained significance as chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday, March 13 refuted the charges that there was delay on the part of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and instead held dissonance between the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 and the delimitation exercise responsible for the delay in holding the electoral exercise.
Kumar’s assertion lays blame on the door of the Union government for the post-delimitation delay in conducting the polls, even as the latter has been passing the buck on the former with respect to elections in the state.
No delay on our part: ECI
Claiming that there was no delay on their part in holding the electoral exercise, the CEC said that there was a dissonance between the JandK Reorganisation Act, 2019 and the delimitation exercise completed in 2022. “The two were to be made harmonious and that was done only in December 2023,” Kumar said.
The CEC referred to the changes like increase in assembly seats, reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes, reservation of two seats for Kashmiri migrants and one seat for refugees from the Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, which were to be incorporated in the Representation of The Peoples Act and the Reorganisation Act.
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“The Reorganisation Act, after the acceptance of the Delimitation Commission (report) was changed in December 2023. This is March, 2024. We had just three months. So, there is no delay on our part,” Kumar said.
The CEC’s claim raises questions on why the Union government took 17 months to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act to incorporate the changes necessitated by the delimitation exercise in the Reorganisation Act.
The delimitation exercise was completed on May 5, 2022. In July 2023, the Union government brought a bill in the Parliament to make the delimitation exercise compatible with the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The bill was cleared by both the houses of the Parliament in December 2023.
Interestingly, post-delimitation, the Union government and the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) have been repeatedly saying that the ECI would decide on the timing of the Jammu and Kashmir polls. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has also made similar claims in the past two years.
Kumar, however, continued suspense over holding of the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the decision regarding holding assembly polls together with parliamentary elections or at an interval would be made after taking into account inputs of political parties and security considerations.
Jammu and Kashmir saw the last assembly election in 2014 and the erstwhile state is under direct control of Union government since June 19, 2018 when BJP withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti-led government, citing “deteriorating” security situation in the then state.
The delay in holding assembly polls has left the people of Jammu and Kashmir without an elected government for the past six years. Four seats of Jammu and Kashmir are also vacant in Rajya Sabha due to the delay in holding assembly polls in the Union Territory.
Last year, the Supreme Court had directed the ECI to hold the exercise by September 30, 2024.
“Direct elections to the legislative assemblies which is one of the paramount features of representative democracy in India cannot be put on hold until statehood is restored. We direct that steps shall be taken by the Election Commission of India to conduct elections to the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir constituted under Section 14 of the Reorganisation Act by 30 September 2024,” a five-judge constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud said, in its verdict in the Article 370 case on December 11, 2023.
