Uncertainty regarding election timing getting over now

For the last several years the timing of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir remained a mystery. Neither the people nor the political parties had any clue as to when exactly the elections will be held. With eagerness they waited for the completion of delimitation exercise. Even after its completion, there were no signs of assembly polls. The wait became almost unending. Finally the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold the assembly polls by September 30, 2024.

However, the parties due to various reasons remained unsure whether the polls will be held in time. While they were making preparations on small scale regarding the assembly elections but at the same time they were in some kind of dilemma regarding elections this year. This  quandary had also affected their activities and the parties were showing reluctance in going into full election mode. The heatwave  had also hampered their activities to some extent.

But now after some recent assembly polls related activities at official level,  the uncertainty regarding the timing is getting over.  The mist will completely get cleared once the election notification is issued. That will mark the political parties jumping into electoral fray with full might and strength. According to reports the Union Minister and BJP's election incharge for J&K, G Kishan Reddy, recently said during a party meeting in Jammu that the election notification will be issued within 15 to 20 days. Later, addressing a rally in R S Pora he stated that assembly polls will be held in September.

According to reports a high level team of ECI is arriving in J&K on a three day visit on August 8 to review the assembly polls related preparations. During  the visit the team will hold separate meetings with leaders of political parties, civil administration, local election authorities and senior police and security officers. Before their departure to New Delhi the team may hold a press conference in Jammu also. The ECI has sent letters for the meeting to the political parties.

Reacting to the  ECI visit, National Conference (NC) President Dr Farooq Abdullah hoped that election dates are announced after their visit.  "To visit J&K before assembly elections is the job of ECI. We hope that election dates are announced immediately after the visit," he said.

CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami confirmed that his party has received letter for the meeting with ECI team. " I think the elections will be held in time," he said.

ECI had recently directed the governments of assembly polls bound states besides the union territory government in J&K to shift officers serving in their home districts and also those who have served in a particular district for three years during the past four years.

The central government also recently amended the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019. It was seen by the opposition as a move to reduce the powers of a Chief Minister  and empower the Lieutenant Governor. They alleged that the amendments is a signal that BJP is convinced that  it will not be in a position to form its own government and that a non- BJP government will be at place after assembly polls. However, BJP dismissed these allegations saying that it was very much confident to have its government with its chief minister in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time.

Earlier, the opposition parties used to claim that BJP wants to delay assembly elections as the party will be defeated in elections. This claim became louder after recent parliamentary ( Lok Sabha ) polls. While BJP won both the seats in Jammu its victory margin was lesser than what it was in 2019 and 2014. In Kashmir BJP did not contest and supported like minded parties, who could not perform well. BJP has now announced that it will contest all the assembly seats and will not form any electoral alliance with the like minded parties. But much will depend upon the mood of BJP's central leadership at election time. Even the BJP's like minded parties would not also like to be seen close to BJP since such stance in parliamentary polls proved costly for them.  Definitely these parties would go into elections with new strategy and new issues. Apni Party has a number of senior leaders, who in past were ministers and legislators.

Though Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) Chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad is a big name in national and J&K politics, his party could not grow the way he would have expected after he left Congress. Having been an influential Chief Minister during his time, his party is facing acute shortage of prominent leaders and workers. The results of parliamentary polls were not encouraging for his party. Azad recently said that the people felt victim to the politics of deceit, cheating  and exploitation in Lok Sabha polls and could not get anything good in return. He hoped that same thing will not happen again during assembly polls, which are being fought on different issues. Azad said peace and development is the main agenda of his party. He held several meetings with party workers in recent past.

DPAP's activities and also that of the other parties are going to pick up the momentum as the election notification is issued. Right now all the parties are also busy giving shape to their respective election manifestos. National Conference has already received suggestions from the people and is considering those. Congress and BJP are in the process of doing so. Besides the political issues the parties would include the problems, like growing  unemployment among youth,  inflation, and the power crisis, in their manifesto with a promise that if voted to power they will find out the solutions.

Author is senior editor Greater Kashmir