Kashmir mainstream divided over Modi’s “ One nation, one election” proposition

Srinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push for “one nation one election” has triggered a political debate across Jammu and Kashmir with the political spectrum split over the issue. The J&K Assembly has six-year term unlike five-years in the rest of the assemblies in the country and the Parliament. This needs to be amended before the polls can happen simultaneously.
“Reducing the term of Assembly from six to five years is possible only when State Assembly passes the amendment to the Constitution,” regional party National Conference’s general secretary and former minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar, said.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti is apprehensive about the idea of simultaneous elections. “India is defined by its diversity in culture, in linguistics, in eating and living habits and therefore politically also this diversity should be allowed to thrive,” she said.
CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami termed the proposal fundamentally “anti-federal” and “anti-democratic.” “It will fade out local issues as elections for state assemblies and Lok Sabha are fought on different issues,” he said.
Noted Kashmiri political commentator Prof Siddiq Wahid said the proposal won’t have impact on the dispute over the state of Jammu and Kashmir. “However, it does seem to point to a will towards a presidential system of governance, which is a system more vulnerable to supporting personality cults,” he said. A senior official in state Law department, preferring anonymity, said implementation of the proposal would require amendments in both the Constitution of India and and the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. “Jammu and Kashmir assembly has to decide whether the State will be part of ‘one nation, one election plan’ because the term of Assembly is governed by the J&K constitution. In case of other states, Parliament has the authority,” he said.