Updated: November 21, 2020 8:57:09 pm
File photo: Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah at an all-party meeting on October 15 (Archive / ANI)
Former Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and chairman of the newly formed People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), Farooq Abdullah, sent a letter to J&K Election Commissioner KK Sharma, complaining that Alliance candidates were He was denying them a level playing field for years to come. Surveys for District Development Councils (DDC) in the name of security.
The letter was sent amid allegations by the Popular Alliance that the police are preventing its candidates from campaigning by housing them in “safe” accommodation in the name of security.
“I take the liberty of writing to you about the upcoming DDC elections. A strange and unique feature has come to the fore. Candidates presented by the PAGD are immediately transferred to ‘safe places’ in the name of security and confined to those ‘safe places’, ”Abdullah wrote in the letter. “They are not allowed to vote, they are completely out of touch with those who are supposed to seek votes.”
In his letter, Abdullah has accused the government of “interfering” in the democratic process.
“The current state of affairs in the security arena is blatantly geared towards providing security for a chosen few and confining others,” Abdullah said in an apparent reference to the BJP and PAGD candidates respectively. “This manifests itself more as an attempt to interfere in the democratic process than as a real concern for the well-being of the contestants. Security cannot and should not be used as a tool or excuse to interfere in democratic processes ”.
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Abdullah, in his letter, also claimed that the government’s job was to provide security for candidates participating in the DDC elections.
“Security is a challenge and it is up to the government in office to counter that challenge in a way that is fair and transparent,” Abdullah said, adding that: “Providing security to a select few and literally interning the rest is enormous interference. in democracy “.
Saying that the democracy journey at J&K is drenched in blood, Abdullah has called the government’s “interference” in the polls “desecration of those sacrifices.”
“I can add that the evolution of democracy in J and K is distinctive compared to any other part of the country. The journey is a bloody journey, drenched in the blood of thousands of political workers who have given their lives for the sake of democracy. It is a desecration of those sacrifices when the very conflict that consumed their lives is used as an alibi to personalize democracy, ”Abdullah has written.
“Democracy is still in a state of fragility in J and K. Governments come and go. No government has the right to alter the institutional foundations of democracy in J and K, fueled by the sacrifices of thousands of political workers, “he added.
Abdullah said that being in power in the past, they are aware of the security challenges at J&K. “Our parties have been in power in the past and have had the opportunity to lead and lead the government. We are aware of the challenges posed in the area of security in a place beset by violence, ”the letter said. “These challenges are not new, but they have painfully persisted for the past three decades. But the government had structures that guaranteed the safety of all the contestants, regardless of the ideology they defended or the parties they represented ”.
Meanwhile, PAGD Vice Chairman and PDP Chairman Mehbooba Mufti also raised the issue and called for J&K Deputy Governor Manoj Sinha to intervene.
“The Government of India is sabotaging the participation of non-BJP parties in the DDC polls. PDP Bashir Ahmed, despite having adequate security, has been detained in Pahalgam on the pretext of security. Today is the last day to submit nominations and I have spoken with DC Anantnag for their release, ”Mufti tweeted.
At first phase of the DDC elections scheduled for Nov. 28, 167 candidates are in the fray from 10 districts in the Valley. In the second phase, 227 candidates have submitted their nomination papers (subject to scrutiny) and nominations are still being received for the third phase.
The decision by the major parties to challenge the DDC polls is likely to open up political space after nearly 15 months since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and the demotion of the status to two Union territories last August.
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