After BJP’s victory in Tripura and Nagaland, and its coalition with NPP in Meghalaya, the party’s hopes have soared very high. Its celebrations reached Srinagar and Jammu, and the BJP leadership said that after conquering northeast electorally, its victory in the UT is inevitable. The party is jubilant over its electoral victory in the northeast and is hoping for repeat of the same in J&K, but what it is not saying is, as to when the Assembly polls will be held here. It is now a billion dollar question, the answer to which can be provided by the saffron party only as it controls all levers of affairs of the Union Territory.
Having said this, it becomes imperative for the BJP to hold elections in this sensitive and strategically important part of the country, where contesting narratives define the political landscape, especially after the abrogation of Article 370, with which snapped the special status and privileges to the erstwhile state. The state was also split into two union territories of Ladakh, and J&K- the announcement was made on August 5, 2019, same day when the constitutional provision granting special privileges to the state were scrapped.
Why should BJP talk of elections and facilitate its holding in J&K? facts are very clear and all to see. The party is ruling at the Centre and it also is directly ruling the UT through its nominee Lieutenant Governor. The Ministry of Home Affairs is monitoring and controlling all the levels of the state administration, not just the security part of it. The second part is that the party claims that the security situation has improved considerably, the people are experiencing the normal life that was out of their daily routine for over three decades ( from 1990 to 2019), and there has been a windfall of tourists in the Valley – the combined figure of the pilgrims and the tourists in the Valley has been pegged at 18 million.
More than this text book definition of normalcy, the greater truth is that people have gained self-confidence in the post-abrogation period. So the party has to validate this assertion, and the best way is to test its claims in the Assembly elections.
It has to give certificate of security situation being conducive for the polls to the Election Commission of India to hold the polls in J&K. This is a must because of the threat to the security from across and the inimical elements within. In the absence of it , Election Commission can neither announce or hold the elections. This also is necessary as it has to justify its claim that has laid firm foundation of grassroots democracy by holding three-tier Panchayati Raj elections for the first time in the history of J&K.
If these polls could be held, there is no justification for not holding the Assembly polls.
Now the two constitutional requirements – the delimitation commission exercise is complete, so is the revision of the electoral rolls – have been fulfilled. There is nothing left to be done, and the people and political parties in J&K are right in asking that if the election schedule for other states and UTs can be followed, why this UT is being made an exception. This question remains unanswered.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
