BJP not ready to face ULB, Panchayat elections: Congress

Jammu, Nov 2: Hitting out at the UT administration for the delay in the ULB and Panchayat elections besides raising the issue of the recovery of arrears of waived off or abolished irrigation tax (Abiyana) from the farmers, JKPCC Thursday said that BJP could not face people and was thus deferring all polls, except Lok Sabha in J&K for fear of defeat.

In a joint press conference Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) working president Raman Bhalla and senior vice president Ravinder Sharma said that it was Congress party, which raised the issue of reservation to OBCs in the ULB and Panchayats as per 73rd and 74th amendment besides demanding holding of ULB elections under State Election Commission (SEC) as per constitution, in a letter cum objections to the J&K Chief Electoral Officer on September 13, 2023.

“It was the result of the Congress party’s letter that the government woke up to consider reservation to the OBCs and the setting up of SEC for ULBs. But the delay in the matter is deliberate, out of fear of defeat by the ruling party,” JKPCC leaders claimed, while releasing their letter, containing objections to the proposed reservation and rotation of reserved wards in the JMC, Municipal Committees to the CEO, J&K.

They said that as per law and constitution, the elections to these bodies were required to be conducted one month prior to the expiry of their 5-year term. “While all municipal bodies including Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations would complete their term by November 14, the elections should have been conducted and completed by October 15 but they have been delayed and deferred,” JKPCC leaders said.
Senior Congress leaders said that the ruling BJP was afraid of facing all elections be it ULB, Panchayats and especially assembly elections, for fear of losing, as LAHDC Kargil elections were a trailer for it (BJP).

“The real picture will unfold after Assembly elections and the BJP shall be wiped out in Jammu region too,” they claimed.
“The non-holding of Assembly elections and the deferment of the ULB and Panchayat elections is a murder of democracy and the people are suffering a lot due to the autocratic style of the bureaucratic regime, which is passing arbitrary orders every other day at its whims and fancies,” Congress leaders alleged.