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‘Strong possibility’: Rajnath Singh indicates J&K polls by end of this year
‘I feel that the election process will be initiated by the end of this year... there’s a strong possibility,’ said defence minister Rajnath Singh in Jammu
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday indicated that the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir could be held by the end of the year after the delimitation process was completed in the union territory.
“Recently, the delimitation process was completed. Earlier, the Jammu region had 37 assembly seats, and Kashmir had 46, but now, in the new assembly with 90 seats, Jammu has 43 seats and Kashmir 47. I feel that the election process will be initiated by the end of this year... there’s a strong possibility,” Rajnath said in Jammu, where he was addressing a function celebrating the 200th year of the coronation of Maharaja Gulab Singh.
On June 19, 2018, the last elected government of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ceased after the latter pulled out of the alliance, citing the deteriorating security situation.
Later, Article 370, which gave special powers to Jammu and Kashmir, was scrapped in August 2019 by the government as J&K was split into two union territories.
The defence minister’s comments come two days after the Election Commission initiated the revision of electoral rolls in the union territory.
Rajnath Singh recalled that the BJP in 2014 had declared in its manifesto to remove Article 370 from J&K.
“Article 370 was a big problem in the full accession of the state but we abrogated it. Many of our stalwarts, including Shyama Prasad Mukerjee, made supreme sacrifices for its abrogation. For us, national unity is most important. The previous governments didn’t abrogate it but we fulfilled our poll promise on August 5, 2019 ending discrimination against marginalised sections of society and our daughters,” he added.
He also said the abrogation of Article 370 facilitated 170 laws, including the Anti-Corruption Act in J&K, which never existed in the region because of Article 370.
