PDP, NC say they raised issue of holding assembly polls in J&K at EC meet

Srinagar, Jan 16 (PTI) The PDP and National Conference on Monday said the Election Commission’s proposal for allowing remote voting as an effort to strengthen democracy in the country was ironic as residents of Jammu and Kashmir were not allowed to exercise their right to franchise.

“The intentions of the Election Commission might be good but people make up their minds by what is happening to them. People of Jammu and Kashmir have been denied their right to vote for so many years now,” PDP chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari, who attended the EC meeting on remote voting in Delhi, told PTI over phone.

He said the Chief Election Commissioner, while taking note of the matter, said the polls will be held as soon as the weather and security situation in Jammu and Kashmir get better.

Bukhari said earlier the “excuse” for not holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir was the process of delimitation of constituencies and updating electoral rolls.

“All the processes have been completed now. The only excuse left for not holding polls is that they don’t want to,” he claimed.

National Conference treasurer Shammy Oberoi, who represented his party in the meet, also raised the issue of uncertainty surrounding the assembly elections in the Union territory.

“@oberoi_shammi while speaking on the issue said that when the government is concerned about facilitating domestic migrants to exercise their voting rights, the 1.4 crore people of J&K continue to remain deprived of exercising their democratic rights,” National Conference tweeted on its official handle.