NEW DELHI: In an anticlimax to the Government’s massive preparations, the three members Election Commission last week unanimously rejected the Union Cabinet’s recommendation for holding Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in December. The Commission announced after three hour long deliberations that the if situation was “not consistent with the conduct of a fair and free election.” It said it would wait for the creation of conditions appropriate to the holding of a free and fair election. The State is thus heading for another ‘spell of President’s rule after the expiry of its present term on January 17 next year, This means that the State would be deprived of popular rule for and a half years, the longest in any ‘State in the country. The Governor’s ‘role was first imposed in the State for ‘six months in January 199) under the State Constitution. It has since been followed by a continuous spell of President’s rule.
Another implication of the Election ‘Commission’s decision is that the winter session of Parliament will now be held as scheduled from November 21. Many Kashmir observers believe that a question mark has also arisen about the continuation of Gen (Retd) K.V. Krishna Rao as the Governor as he was insistent upon holding the elections, more so after Pakistan had pledged moral and diplomatic support to those opposing the revival of democratic process.
The earliest the elections will now be possible in the State is only in March in view of the extreme wintry conditions that sect in after the middle of December and last the end of February of course, the other determining factors is at that time will be the coming Lok Sabha polls and ‘emerging alignment of political forces.
The Prime Minister last week held separate meetings with Mr. Madhavsinh Solanki, AICC general secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, the Pradesh Congress president, Mr. Ghulam Rasool Kar, and the top dissident leader, Mian Bashir. The impression that Congress Leaders got was that the relationship between Mr, Narasimha Rao and the National Conference president, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, had come under strain following the latter’s decision to boycott the polls.
The EC’s decision was apparently influenced by the NC’s boycott decision which left the Congress as the only major party willing to enter the fray. The NC’s participation was being taken for granted after a meeting between Mr. Rao and Dr. Abdullah, following which the Government promised the restoration of the nomenclatures of“ Sadar e Riyasat” and “Wazir e Azam” in place of Governor and Chief Minister, respectively. ‘According to highly reliable sources, what led subsequently to the hardening of NC’s posture was Dr. ‘Abdullah’s insistence that the Government gives a prior commitment about restoring the nomenclatures. He wanted a formal notification to be used in this regard. The Government, on the other, referred to difficulties involved in the process. It pointed out that the changes of nomenclatures could be done only be amending the State Constitution, and competent body to do so was the elected assembly.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 17, 1995
