Mainstream politicians clamouring for holding early Assembly polls in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir were on Monday given a sound piece of advice by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to cooperate with the delimitation commission rather than making excuses.
Setting the record straight Sinha also clarified that the final decision to hold the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be taken only by the election commission of India after the completion of the delimitation exercise.
The Delimitation Commission met in New Delhi last week to seek suggestions from the associate members on the process of delimitation of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by only two BJP Parliamentarians while three National Conference MP's including Dr Farooq Abdullah skipped the meeting.
On Monday when Lt-Gov Manoj Sinha was asked to react to the recent statements made by the PDP and National Conference leaders over holding early Assembly polls he made it clear those who want early assembly elections in J&K are requested to help and cooperate with the delimitation commission, instead of making excuses”.
“There are constitutional institutions in India. The decision is taken by the Election Commission. Let the work related to delimitation get completed, the Commission will definitely conduct elections,” he said.
On some politicians “boycotting” the proceedings of the Delimitation Commission, the LG said they must understand that if they want early polls, the delimitation process has to be first completed .
The LG said that “the prime minister has assured the entire nation (on holding polls) and you have seen reports in newspapers that the Delimitation Commission has begun its work”.
Meanwhile, reacting to the current political developments, senior congress leader and former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Monday suggested the participation of National Conference in the Delimitation Commission process would have given representation to people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking to a local news agency Azad said that the NC leaders should have participated in the
delimitation meeting, however, they chose to boycott it, which is not a “good thing”.
He said that the National Conference has a majority as they have three parliament members and all of them were appointed as the members of the delimitation commission, which would have made “our case strong”, however, they choose to stay away.
Recently, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti had alleged that the delimitation exercise in the union territory was a part of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) plan to divide communities and religions and pit them against each other.
Mufti raised apprehensions at the hurry in carrying out the delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The tearing hurry with which GOI is railroading delimitation in J&K has raised genuine & serious apprehensions about the motives of this exercise. It’s a part of BJPs larger plan to divide & pit regions, religions & communities against each other,” she said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, replying to queries on NC and PDP leaders calling for dialogue between India and Pakistan, the LG said India is capable of solving its problems.
“I don''t want to react to someone''s statement. The Ministry of External Affairs assesses this. India is capable of solving its own problems,” Sinha said.
He also condemned the recent attacks on policemen by terrorists and said that terrorism won''t be allowed to raise its head again.