Srinagar, Jul 22 (KNO): Amid the speculation that the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir may be deferred to 2025, the Congress Party says this would trigger massive protests against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government across the country.
"There is no reason to delay the assembly elections in J&K, but if the BJP government does that, it would further expose their incompetence and failure," Jammu and Kashmir Congress President Vikar Rasool told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
He said the government was left with no excuse as the Supreme Court had already set the deadline for the polls in the union territory (UT).
“If the BJP government tries to defer the assembly polls, we will hold big protests against the decision. We won’t let the government delay the democratic process and take people for granted. They have done enough damage in the past,” he said.
Rasool also accused the Centre of disempowering J&K by bifurcating it into two UTs and denying democratic rights to the people.
“Panchayat and municipal elections are not our party's priority in J&K because the government didn’t provide them with enough powers or funds. So, we want statehood back to J&K so that people get their rights,” he told KNO.
According to reports, only panchayat and local body elections may be held by September 2024, with assembly elections perhaps postponed until 2025. The declaration of local body elections is likely once the Amarnath Yatra ends on August 19.
The back-to-back terrorist strikes in the UT, particularly in the Jammu division, have heightened concerns.
The J&K Congress chief attributed the increase in terrorist attacks to government failure and massive security lapses.
“The BJP government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would always boast about normalisation in Jammu and Kashmir and claim that terrorism has ended. However, we have seen a resurgence of the attacks. Isn’t this government’s failure?” he questioned—(KNO)