BJP not ready to face ULB, panchayat polls in J&K: Cong

Jammu, Nov 2 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Thursday said the BJP does not want Urban Local Body and panchayat elections to be conducted in the Union Territory as it is staring at defeat in these electoral contests.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress working president Raman Bhalla said it was his party which raised the issue of reservation to OBCs in the ULB and panchayats in accordance with the 73rd and 74th amendment, in a letter cum objections to the J&K Chief Electoral Officer on September 13 2023, demanding reservations to OBCs besides holding of ULB elections under State Election Commission (SEC) in accordance with the Constitution.

“The ruling BJP is afraid of facing all elections be it ULB and panchayats polls and especially in assembly elections. They don’t want to conduct elections for fear of losing, as LAHC-Kargil elections were a trailer for the BJP. The real picture will unfold after the Assembly elections and the BJP shall be wiped out in the Jammu region too,” Bhalla told reporters here.

He said that as per law and constitution, the elections to these bodies were required to be conducted one month prior to the expiry of their five-year term. “While all municipal bodies including Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations will complete their term by November 14, the elections should have been conducted and completed by October 15 but it has been delayed and deferred”, he said.

Citing a case of alleged bureaucratic arbitrariness and “anti-farmer” decisions of the “BJP government-controlled Union Territory administration”, JKPCC leaders questioned the recovery of the arrears of abolished Irrigation tax from the farmers, whereas it was the PDP-BJP government which itself had abolished this tax (Abhiyana) in the budget in 2015-2016.

“What right does the government have to recover the waived off/ abolished tax and even charge future tax when an elected government has abolished the same”, he said.