CEC was equally concerned: NC
KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Jan 16: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has said that it shares the concern of the people of J&K regarding the delay in holding assembly elections in the Union Territory.
Talking to the Kashmir Despatch, National Conference Treasurer Shammi Oberoi who attended the meeting convened by ECI to demonstrate the Remote Electronic Voting Machines (RVMs) to facilitate voting among 30 crore domestic migrants working across the country, said that the J&K based parties pitched for holding assembly elections as soon as possible.
Pertinently, the meeting included representatives from different political parties of the country including few regional parties from the J&K.
In reference to the meeting, Oberoi while speaking on the issue said that when the government is concerned about facilitating domestic migrants to exercise their voting rights, the 1.4 crore people of Jammu and Kashmir continue to remain deprived from exercising their democratic rights. He further added: “J&K which hasn’t seen elections for the last so many years, is suffering on many fronts.”
During the meeting, he raised the concern that people of J&K are being kept away from exercising their democratic rights and choosing their own government which would have effectively addressed their day to day issues.
Oberoi told Kashmir Despatch that in its response, the Chief Election Commissioner acknowledged the points flagged by him and said that the ECI is also concerned about the Assembly elections in J&K. The CEC said that preparations for the polls are underway and that much groundwork has been covered in terms of delimitation of constituencies, electoral rolls revision and booth identification.
PDP chief spokesman Suhail Bukhari who was also present in the meeting said that he raised the issue of delay in holding assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir during the meeting. “I told them that it is ironic that the poll-body has called a meeting to discuss ways to increase that the poll-body has called a meeting to discuss ways for increasing voter participation in polls, but people in Jammu & Kashmir are eagerly waiting for the past five years to exercise their voting rights,” he said.
He said the Chief Election Commissioner told the meeting that all technical processes have been completed in Jammu & Kashmir.
“The CEC told us that exercises of delimitation and revision of voters have been completed,” he said, adding that CEC further said they are also concerned over the matter.
J&K has been without an elected government since June 19, 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to Mehbooba Mufti-led government. The last assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir was held in 2014. The delimitation process was completed in May 2022 while summary revision exercise was completed on November 25.
