APSCC to field candidates in J&K assembly polls

Srinagar, Aug 13: The All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) announced on Tuesday that they would field Sikh candidates in the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir while urging the Muslim majority to support these candidates to ensure their victory.

Addressing a press conference here, APSCC Chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said that in Kashmir, they have decided to field Sikh candidates in certain assembly seats where their  community has a significant presence. “We request the majority community to extend support to Sikh candidates,” Raina said while highlighting the community's long-standing grievances.

"For the past 70 years, we have sought help from the government to address the grievances of our community, but nobody has come to our aid," Raina said adding that they never asked anything from the majority community in the past. “But now we seek their help to send Sikh candidates to the Assembly, where they will advocate for all of us."

He said that the APSCC would soon finalize and announce the names of the candidates who will contest in the Kashmir division.  The APSCC criticised successive political regimes, accusing them of neglecting the Sikh community's needs and using the community as a mere vote bank. "These political parties did not take any steps towards the betterment of the Sikh community and only used us for vote bank politics," the APSCC  chairman said. "The failure brought upon us by successive political parties has compelled us to make this move, which will teach them a lesson."

The committee also condemned the government's reservation policy, which they described as discriminatory. He pointed out that seats had been reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Kashmiri Pandits, while Sikhs had been excluded. “ We had met with retired judge Ranjana Desai, who heads the Delimitation Commission, and are hoping for representation in some Assembly seats,” he said.

Terming the reservation as discrimination, Raina said they will field their candidate from seats where the Sikh community holds a majority and can be a game changer.

Raina who was flanked by APSCC members also raised concerns about the status of the Punjabi language in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370. He argued that the recognition of Punjabi as a language in the constitution of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir had been undermined after J&K was downgraded to a Union Territory.

"Since the language was recognised by the constitution of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, it does not hold ground since Jammu and Kashmir has been downgraded into a Union Territory," he said and demanded the restoration of Punjabi language rights within the education system of Jammu and Kashmir.

Furthermore, the APSCC called for an increase in electricity supply to Kashmir. He demanded that the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) supply 50 percent of the power produced in Jammu and Kashmir projects to the people of the Union Territory. "This will solve the power shortage issue," he said.