EC’s Assembly polls stance raises hackles

Srinagar: The Election Commission of India’s dithering over holding elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has raised many eyebrows in the state.

Almost all major mainstream political parties in the state were expecting the ECI to hold the Assembly elections simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls or, at the latest, in June. But its reluctance to give the people the chance to elect a government of their own at the earliest has come as a big disappointment to these parties. Some of them have openly accused the ECI of succumbing to the pressure from the Central government on the issue.

In June 2018, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had pulled out of the J&K government headed by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti. Since the collapse of the coalition government, the state has been under President’s rule following the expiry of six months of governor’s rule in December.

On November 21, 2018, governor Satya Pal Malik, amidst high drama between the warring factions of the mainstream political arena, dissolved the Assembly which had been under suspended animation since the imposition of governor’s rule on June 20, 2018.

The critics saw in his decision a deliberate move to deny the PDP a chance to form a government. with the support of the NC MLAs.