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Fear even Lok Sabha polls won’t happen in J&K: Omar
The former chief minister of J&K has hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) multiple times in the recent times for not holding elections, be it assembly, panchayat or urban local body polls in the Union Territory
A day after Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha said that urban local bodies elections would be conducted after delimitation exercise for wards is complete, National Conference (NC) Omar Abdullah said that he even feared for the parliament elections.
The former chief minister of J&K has hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) multiple times in the recent times for not holding elections, be it assembly, panchayat or urban local body polls in the Union Territory.
The terms of municipal corporations, councils and committees along with panchayats has either ended or nearing completion within the month.
“Now, they thought of delimitation. When everyone knew that the term of municipal councils, committees and panchayats was coming to an end,” Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function in north Kashmir’s Pattan. He said that the elections were held in 2018 and terms end in 2023.
“Could you not have started delimitation in 2022. If this would have been done last year, the elections would have been conducted on time and people would have gotten at least one tier of democracy,” he added.
Pointing out that assembly elections were not being held in J&K,Omar asked the Centre to at least stay true to what they told the Supreme Court and other countries about three-tier system of government in UT.
“Unfortunately, one after the other, all the tiers of elected government have been removed. I fear they (BJP) will do same to parliament elections in J&K. Though they talk about belie in democracy, it ends at Lakhanpore for them.”
Omar blamed the BJP for destroying democracy in J&K and said that the Election Commission of India also shared responsibility for the delay in polls.
“ECI should show courage and announce elections for J&K,” the former chief minister said.
On Tuesday, Sinha had said while felicitating councillors of Jammu MC, that urban local body polls would be conducted after delimitation exercise for wards was complete. The tenure of Jammu MC came to an end on Tuesday.
