NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced Tuesday its decision to postpone elections to the redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir, which was scheduled to go to polls on May 7 in third phase, to May 25 in sixth phase.
The announcement to this effect was made by the ECI despite opposition from major contenders in this parliamentary constituency. Citing representations from several political parties including BJP, which has not fielded any candidate in this segment, requesting to shift the date due to logistic and connectivity issues in the region, the ECI took this decision.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party president and contesting candidate Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference nominee Mian Altaf Ahmad had opposed rescheduling of the election dates in Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary segment. They had sent separate letters to the ECI opposing such a decision on the plea that this would deprive many people of their right to exercise adult franchise in the event the polling was deferred.
“Various representations have been received from different political parties of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir for shifting the date of poll of election from 3-Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary Constituency due to various logistic, communication and natural barrier of connectivity turning out as hindrance in campaigning which in turn tantamount to lack of fair opportunities for the contesting candidates which may affect the poll process,” the ECI said.
The commission said that after considering a report from the administration and analysing the ground situation in the constituency, it decided to revise the date of the poll under Section 56 of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
All other statutory processes including “nomination, scrutiny and withdrawal are already over with 20 contesting candidates in the fray. Except poll date, no changes in any part of the schedule,” the Election Commission said.
The poll conducting body had issued the Notification for this constituency in 3rd Phase on April 12 and the poll day was scheduled on May 7.
Some leaders including J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari, People’s Conference leader Imran Ansari and others had approached the Election Commission requesting for rescheduling of polls to the seat due to adverse weather conditions.
The Lok Sabha election is the first major poll since the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019 which bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.
Former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah (National Conference) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) had urged the Election Commission last week not to postpone the polls. Interestingly, BJP and People’s Conference who had demanded deferment of polls are not contesting in Anantnag-Poonch.
Political parties are struggling with the new electoral map of the Anantnag constituency as the delimitation has drastically redrawn electoral boundaries. The Mughal Road across Pir Panjal range, which connects the two regions usually remains closed for more than five months in winter due to snow accumulation. But the road was open on both days when letters seeking rescheduling of polls were sent to ECI on April 8 and 23.
Now, mountains divide one part of the Anantnag constituency from the others in Rajouri and Poonch. In between is Shopian district which has been made part of the Srinagar seat – leading to a geographical disconnect.
The polls will decide the fate of 20 candidates, including Mehbooba Mufti who is facing a challenge from National Conference leader Mian Altaf.
Voting in Udhampur was held on April 19 in the first phase, in Jammu on April 26 in second phase, in Srinagar, it will be on May 13, in Baramulla on May 20 and Anantnag-Rajouri on May 25.
Reacting to the ECI announcement, Bilal Rashid, Indian National Congress (INC) member said that “Deferred by “NEUTRAL” umpire.”
In his post on his social media handle, he said, “This is likely to erode trust between the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the general public.”
He also said, “P.S :- BJP failed to field candidate on this seat and is now doing all this to support Apni Party.”
Tribals oppose re-scheduling of elections
The Nomads of Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency also opposed the rescheduling of the elections and described such move as “a conspiracy to deprive the nomads from exercising their franchise.”
Chowdhary Rashid Azam Inqulabi said that the Nomads of this segment discussed the demand of some political parties seeking postponement of the polls. He said that some parties which were demanding deferring of the polls were not even in the fray.
He said that “Mughal Road was operational at present and there was no difficulty in movement of vehicles. All political parties and contested candidates are campaigning freely. The staff of Pir Panjal PWD Division was very active and working professionally, if due to rain some slide block the road the staff of PWD was in a position to remove the debris from the road within an hour and open the road for traffic smoothly.”
He said that “rescheduling of the poll date which is not fair and badly effects on the turnout of the voters because Nomad voters start moving to higher reaches in summers in the second week of May 2024. Moreover, in this parliamentary constituency about 5 lakh Nomad voters are there and they will move to higher reaches in the second week of May 2024.”
He said, “If the election dates are re- scheduled then 5 Lakh Nomad voters shall not be in position to cast their votes and this would cause irreparable loss to them. The Nomads demanded that the election commission should conduct the election in Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency on due dates i.e. on the 7th of May 2024.”
—–
Have you liked the news article?