Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s sudden announcement of conducting Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir from February 15, 2018 by all standards of understandabilities is an attempt to reconnect mainstream political parties with the people at grass roots in Kashmir valley which has been on the boil since June 8 2016 the day when the killing of Hizb militant commander Burhan Wani trigerred a major public unrest in valley. Release of the Dukhtaran e Millat Chief Asiya Andrabi, cancellation of NIA notice to the son of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and amnesty to first time stone pelters are though welcome decisions but not sufficient enough to create a conducive atmosphere for the conduct of Panchayat elections in a short span of just one and a half month. The willingness of the two main opposition parties National Conference and Congress is though encouraging for the government but preparing their grass root level cadres for motivating people to move from the protests at the encounter sites to polling booths is a big challenges for both the National Conference and Congress. Keeping in view the low turn out in parliamentary bye elections in Central Kashmir and the countermanding of bye election to South Kashmir parliamentary constituency under mounting pressure of public protest against the election exercise the decision of conducting panchayat elections in Kashmir would throw much bigger challenges to police and the paramilitaries in guarding polling booths and providing security to intending candidates in Kashmir valley. Conducting panchayat elections just to send a message to the outside world that all goes well in Kashmir neither suits the challenges of security for the police and paramilitaries nor the grass root cadres of the mainstream political parties who will find it difficult to motivate people to join the election process to be conducted for constitution of new panchyats in the state.
Though both the mainstream opposition National Conference and Congres were expecting Panchayat elections in the later part of the new year,i.e, 2018 but Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has made an abortive attempt to impose panchayat elections on unwilling opposition and equally unwilling electorate. The postponement or the countermanding of panchayat polls under the mounting pressure of public interests as experienced in the case of bye elections to the south Kashmir parliamentary constituency would be a severe blow to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in particular and ruling PDP-BJP alliance in general.
As the situation on ground is yet to show signs of improvement neither the cadres of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) nor the grass root level functionaries of the main opposition parties including National Conference and Congress are apparently in a position to turn the tide in their favour . Undeniable fact remains that strong public resentment against the PDP-BJP alliance and the unending phase of public protests at the encounter sites are the two factors which have rendered the mainstream political parties almost irrelevant. Though both the mainstream opposition National Conference and Congres were expecting Panchayat elections in the later part of the new year,i.e, 2018 but Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has made an abortive attempt to impose panchayat elections on unwilling opposition and equally unwilling electorate. The postponement or the countermanding of panchayat polls under the mounting pressure of public interests as experienced in the case of bye elections to the south Kashmir parliamentary constituency would be a severe blow to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in particular and ruling PDP-BJP alliance in general.
