GCC welcomes assembly elections

Srinagar, Aug 18: The Group of Concerned Citizens, J&K (GCC) has welcomed the decision of the Election Commission of India ( ECI) to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after about a decade to pave way for an elected government after a gap of over 6 years of continuous central rule.

GCC is a non- political collective of civil society in J&K comprising of retired civil servants, academics and professionals from different fields. CGG is headed by M.S.Pandit, Retd IAS, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Retd IAS and former Advisor to Governor is its Vice Chairman while Mohd Rafi, former Director School Education, is its secretary respectively.

In a statement, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, said that the GCC has also called for early restoration of full statehood.

“GCC calls for conduct of free and fair election and expresses hope that the UT administration under the supervision of ECI will rise to the occasion to do this in letter and spirit. People of the UT have suffered a lot due to lack of representation since 2018,” the statement said.

“The GCC also called for early restoration of full statehood for Jammu and Kashmir as the elected government in the UT is by law not fully empowered to discharge its responsibilities towards the people as in other states. In this behalf the statement made a mention of the commitment made by PM and HM about restoration of statehood and hoped that this commitment will be honoured without any more delay,” the statement added.