Opposition press for early Assembly polls in J&K; govt says ready, EC to take call

New Delhi: Over Opposition members in the Lok Sabha seeking a timeline for holding Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the central government on Tuesday asserted that it is ready but the final call will be taken by the Election Commission (EC). The Union Territory is under the central rule since 2018.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill will be taken up together on Wednesday. The two Bills were introduced in the Lower House on July 26.

Initiating a debate on the two Bills, Amar Singh of the Congress asked the government about its plans to hold polls in the Union Territory.

Singh said Union Home Minister Amit Shah should assert that the election will be held, with security forces ready to deal with any situation.

He said while a provision is being made to provide reservation for two members from the community of “Kashmiri Migrants” and one from the “Displaced Persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir” to the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, a representative from the Punjabi community from Jammu should also be provided and that person need not necessarily be a Sikh. Union minister Jitendra Singh, in reply, said, “Whenever the EC announces it (election in Jammu and Kashmir), we are ready”.

He said the Congress should be grateful to Prime Minister Modi for the abrogation of Article 370 which gave a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah wanted to know from the Centre why the polls are not being held in the Union Territory. TMC’s Saugata Roy said the government should announce a time-frame for holding the election.

Congress leader Manish Tewari also sought to know about the election and when statehood would be restored in Jammu and Kashmir.

He wondered when the treasury benches are claiming that normalcy has been restored in Jammu and Kashmir, why elections are not being held.

Tewari further said constitutional proprietary demands that the government should refrain from coming up with these legislations as a matter related to the abrogation of Article 370 is pending in the Supreme Court.

Jamyang Tsering Namgyal (BJP) said peace in Jammu and Kashmir is “more important” than elections.

Announcing the poll schedule for five states on October 9, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had said that the election in Jammu and Kashmir will be held when the commission deems it the “right time”, keeping in mind the security situation and other polls being held in the Union Territory.

One of the two Bills seeks to nominate not more than two members, one of whom shall be a woman, from the community of “Kashmiri Migrants” and one member from the “Displaced Persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir” to the legislative assembly of the Union Territory.

The other seeks to change the nomenclature of “weak and underprivileged classes” to “Other Backward Classes” in Jammu and Kashmir.

A M Ariff of the CPI(M) claimed that these Bills are nothing but an attempt by the Centre to keep the Kashmir issue alive ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) asked the government as to when will the election happen. “The 2024 election you will conduct.... You will not even win in Jammu, let alone Kashmir,” he said.with agency inputs