SRINAGAR: Five years after the abrogation of Article 370, uncertainty still surrounds the timing of the first Assembly elections in the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory. Despite plans by the Election Commission to visit the region, political parties are concerned that the BJP might delay the polls further, holding them at their own convenience. Senior PDP leader and former minister Ghulam Nabi Lone (Hanjura) stated that the party has been waiting for elections for the past five years. “We don’t know when polls will be held here.”He added, “It is up to the convenience of the BJP. When they decide that elections need to be held, they will hold them; otherwise, they will delay them. They will prioritise their own convenience over ours or the people’s.” J&K has been under direct central rule since June 2018, following the collapse of the PDP-BJP coalition government. Initially, the region was governed by a Governor, and after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile J&K state into two Union Territories, J&K UT has been administered by a Lieutenant Governor.The PDP leader criticised the BJP for consolidating power through the Lieutenant Governor. “The Lieutenant Governor is their appointee, the administration is theirs, and the officials are theirs. Why would they want to change this arrangement?”He noted that the BJP-led government has amended J&K’s Business Rules to grant more powers to the Lieutenant Governor, suggesting that even if a popular government were to be elected, it would have limited authority.Rasool also claimed that the BJP fears opposition parties might pass a resolution to restore Article 370 if they come to power. “That is why they are delaying the polls. The BJP’s slogan of ‘50 Paar’ in J&k will meet the same fate as their ‘400 Paar’ slogan in the LS polls.”
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