Parties welcome decision to delay J&K by-elections

Chief electoral officer Shailendra Kumar on Tuesday said the polls had been postponed by three weeks due to security concerns, almost a week after he announced the schedule for the elections.

Political parties in Jammu & Kashmir on Wednesday welcomed deferment of bypolls to over 12,500 panchayat seats that had been scheduled to be held in eight phases from March 5, citing the continued detention of top politicians and curbs on political activity since the region was stripped of its special status in August.

Chief electoral officer Shailendra Kumar on Tuesday said the polls had been postponed by three weeks due to security concerns, almost a week after he announced the schedule for the elections. The bypolls would have been the second such electoral exercise since Jammu & Kashmir was stripped of the special status with the nullification of the Constitution’s Article 370. The change in the region’s constitutional status dovetailed with the incarceration of hundreds of politicians and activists.

Ghulam Ahmad Mir, who heads the Congress’s local unit, called the deferment a good move and added the party had raised several issues over the conduct of the polls. “We identified the loopholes... we do not understand; if the situation was not good, how could they have announced these polls,’’ he said. He added the Congress contested the rural polls when they were last held in 2018. “We will contest [the bypolls] but the government must provide us a level playing field.” Mir alleged that Congress leaders were not being allowed to move freely and many of them remain under house arrest.

The National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the region’s two main political parties, as well as the Congress boycotted the Block Development Council polls held in October 2019 citing the detention of political leaders. The NC and PDP also boycotted the panchayat elections held last in 2018 amid concerns over the erstwhile state’s special status. Over 60% of seats in the Kashmir Valley had remained vacant in 2018.

NC spokesman Imran Nabi Dar said there was uncertainty on the ground and called the deferment “a sensible decision”. He added there was no point in contesting the elections when their leaders were in jail and a conducive atmosphere to hold the polls was missing.

The bypoll dates were announced on February 13, a week after two former chief ministers, Omar Abdullah of the NC and PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, were booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) that allows detention without trial for up to two years. Another former chief minister, Farooq Abdullah, was booked under the PSA in September.

The three were among hundreds detained to prevent protests against the changes to Jammu & Kashmir’s special Constitutional status and the erstwhile state’s division into two Union territories. A communications blackout and lockdown were also enforced in the region. Most of the curbs have since been eased even as Internet services remain restricted.

The NC on Sunday said it was willing to participate in the byelections but added it was practically impossible because its top leaders have been detained.

PDP spokesman Tahir Sayeed said the postponement of the bypolls shows all is not well. “After the abrogation of [Article] 370, all the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] leaders have been claiming that the situation is normal in Kashmir. But the deferment of the polls is an indication that all is not well.’’

Sayeed said the government had no road map or plan following the nullification of Article 370. “They even do not know what to do now. First, they announce the polls and now they have deferred them.’’

BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur said “serious inputs” about the security scenario had forced the deferment. “We were ready for these polls and have shortlisted our candidates. And whenever the polls will be held, our party will contest.’’

The bypolls were postponed hours after the PDP on Tuesday said it walked out of an all-party meeting after Kumar expressed his helplessness in addressing the issues, including the detention of its leaders, it raised. The party questioned how the polls could be held when they were not allowed to hold public meetings and to meet Mufti. The Congress complained about the withdrawal of the security of non-BJP leaders at the meeting.