As the Election Commission (EC) announced the schedule for holding Assembly elections in flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, the decision did not go down well with the ruling National Conference (NC).
Reacting to Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath’s announcement of holding five-phase polls in the state from November 25 to December 20, NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said, “We opposed the elections at this point of time because we felt that this is not the opportune time as the people are battling the aftermath of the flood tragedy that has befallen the state.”
He said this was the time to focus on relief and rehabilitation rather than going for polls. “The NC will internally discuss and decide the further course of action,” Sagar said, while indicating that the ruling party might decide to stay away from the poll process.
However, late on Saturday evening, he issued another statement with clarification.
“The matter regarding the participation of the party in the polls was discussed with the working president of the Party Omar Abdullah and other senior colleagues.
The party high command feels that though the time is not appropriate for elections in the state in view of the sufferings of the people, but since the party has always been a votary of strengthening democracy and democratic values in the state it will participate in the polls,” the statement read.
Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief spokesman Naeem Akhtar, while welcoming the decisions, said the people would vote in huge numbers to throw out the present “lame duck” government.
“The NC didn’t want time for the rehabilitation of flood victims but for enjoying the luxuries of power,” he said in a statement.
The NC’s alliance partner, the Congress, said the people were in favour of a stable government so that rehabilitation of flood-affected areas is carried out properly.
“Congress is ready for the polls,” state Congress vice-president Ghulam Nabi Monga told Deccan Herald.
Kashmir BJP spokesman Khalid Jahangir welcomed the EC announcement, saying the party would take the state to the new horizons of prosperity and development. “The state has always been exploited by the vested interests since 1947,” he said.