Jammu and Kashmir's oldest political party, the National Conference, decided wednesday to boycott the elections to panchayat and urban local bodies in the state unless the Centre clarifies its position on Article 35-A of the Constitution, which is facing legal challenge in the Supreme Court.
Minutes after NC president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah made the announcement, the party's arch rival PDP expressed hope that newly appointed governor Satya Pal Malik would convene an all-party meeting to discuss the matter.
The National Conference, which held its core group meeting here, decided to stay out of the panchayat and urban local body elections, saying the decision to hold the polls had been taken in a "hurried" manner without taking into considerations the prevailing situation "created by the powers that be, by unnecessarily fiddling with Article 35-A".
The validity of Article 35A of the Constitution, which accords a slew of rights and privileges to the "permanent residents" of the state, has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
Talking to reporters after chairing the meeting, Abdullah said, "The core group unanimously decided that the National Conference will not participate in these elections unless and until the government of India and the state government clear their position in this regard and take effective steps for protection of Article 35-A in and outside the courts."
The state administration had last week announced the schedule for holding the elections to local body poll in the state. While the urban local body polls are slated for the first week of October, the panchayat elections are scheduled to be held in November-December this year.
Jammu and Kashmir is currently under governor's rule.
Abdullah said the core group had a detailed discussion about the prevailing situation in the state with particular reference to Article 35-A of the Constitution. "It was felt that any tinkering with Article 35-A would prove disastrous not only for our state but for the entire country."
He said the role of the central government and the present dispensation in Jammu and Kashmir before the Supreme Court go "clearly against the wishes and aspirations of the people of the state".
"They conveniently ignore that this provision was incorporated in the Constitution after thorough discussion between the then state government and the Government of India and was made part of the Delhi Agreement 1952," he said, adding that "it was also approved by the state's constituent assembly as envisaged under Article 370 of the Constitution".
NC vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah said, "It is now for the central government to clarify where it stands with regard to Article 35-A. It's not enough to use panchayat and municipal elections simply to delay proceedings in court."
In a related development, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti tweeted that her party the PDP was hopeful that the Governor will convene an all-party meeting on the issue.
"(When) in government I had called an all-party meeting to discuss ULB/Panchayat elections and majority of the parties had opposed holding of elections at that time. We expected that the governor too would have called an all-party meet where everyone would put forward their viewpoint," she said.
"We are still hopeful about that meet and would share our opinion with all the parties so that a consensus is built," she added.
The PDP president, tweeting from her personal handle, said, "The central government's plea in Supreme Court to link decision on (Article) 35-A with panchayat and urban bodies elections, was a disastrous idea, which has further alienated the people and complicated the situation on ground."
In Jammu, state Congress chief G A Mir said it was the responsibility of the governor-led administration to provide secure atmosphere to the candidates and voters and ensure peaceful, free and fair polls.
"The situation in the state, especially in Kashmir Valley, over the past three years has deteriorated. The previous PDP-BJP government failed to conduct bypolls to the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat...," he said.
Mir said the Congress had informed former governor N N Vohra and his successor Satya Pal Malik that the party would not sit behind if they chose to conduct the panchayat and municipal elections, but added that a decision would be taken after reviewing the ground situation.
Talking to reporters in Delhi, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi refused to comment on the NC's decision to boycott the polls, but alleged that the BJP was raising issues such as Article 35-A and uniform civil code to divert the people's attention from its misgovernance.
Reacting to the NC's stand, the All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference termed it "highly-objectionable" and asked the party not to politicise panchayati raj institutions for "petty vote bank politics".
AJKPC state president Anil Sharma told reporters in Jammu that it was an attempt "to blackmail the Government of India and put pressure on the apex court", hearing pleas challenging Article 35-A.
The Centre had last week informed the Supreme Court that panchayat and urban local body elections were to be held in the state, prompting the apex court to defer hearing on a bunch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35-A to the second week of January next year.
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