With Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, a fresh wave of optimism and hope has gripped the entire Union Territory with people wholeheartedly welcoming the ECI initiative. Pertinent to mention that Assembly elections here are being held after 10 years, a very long period for people to remain unrepresented. As declared by the ECI, the three-phase elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 01 and counting of votes will be held on Oct 04.
People are happy and genuinely so. India is a democracy in the democracies, it is the peoples’ will that matters. Last Assembly elections here were held in 2014 and pulling apart of ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and BJP, resulted into imposition of Governor’s rule in 2018 and subsequently the dissolution of Assembly in very controversial manner by then Governor of the then State of Jammu and Kashmir on 21, November, 2018. Rest is history.
Article 370, 35 A were abrogated, Jammu and Kashmir state was split into two UT’s and since then there have been no public representatives in the process of policy making. Since then people here have been constantly demanding holding of Assembly elections to allow them to chose their own representatives who understand their issues and aspirations and could thus legislate accordingly.
That people of Jammu and Kashmir have unshakable faith in democracy and democratic processes was evident during recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. Record numbers of people voted in the nook and corner of the UT. As rightly mentioned by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar, ‘people of J&K preferred ballot over bullets and boycott.’ The participation of people in LS polls was a clear message that they no longer want to be ruled by unelected people with whom they feel no connect. It seems that ECI noted peoples’ mood and thus gave them what they asked for.
Now that all the political parties are gearing up to test the water, time is that, like LS polls, people take part in the polls in larger numbers so that the true representatives are elected to Assembly. While the CEC should ensure free and fair polls and act tough against any one and everyone who may try to violate rules and regulations, the political parties too should make a choice between desirability and achievability and come up with practical, people friendly and achievable manifestos. Rhetorical and emotive issues are not going to help anyone. Let people vote, let they chose the best ones and let these best ones serve the people in a best way.
