Though Lt Governor Manoj Sinha claims credit for holding a “fair, free and transparent” election for district development councils (DDCs) for the first time in Jammu & Kashmir, but fear of detentions in the wake of restrictions on top leaders of top mainstream parties including Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah of National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) all the three former Chief Ministers’ dominated the election scene like never before in Jammu & Kashmir. Significantly fear developed by the restrictions on top mainstream leaders also triggered the apprehensions of 1987 like rigging more so because of a discriminatory security plan put in action for the candidates of the contesting political parties by the Jammu & Kashmir Police . If it comes to counting of the rallies held by the contesting political parties for all the seven phases of the maiden DDC elections in Jammu & Kasshmir, the no of rallies conducted by the constituent parties of the Peoples’ Alliance For Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) the biggest alliance in these elections and the Congress party would be alarmingly low in comparison to other parties including BJP the party ruling at the centre and the nine month old Kashmir’s new regional political party the J&K Apni Party headed by Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari the former Finance Minister of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state. As the charges of discrimination in security to candidates of contesting political parties were so huge that none else than the State Election Commissioner K K Sharma had to visit Kashmir only to take stock of the security arrangements for the poll contestants in valley, the government owes too many explanations over it’s conduct in the entire poll management exercise particularly the security of the candidates marred by allegation from almost all the parties baring BJP the party ruling at the centre.
_________________________________________________________________
For fair and transparent elections government has to ensure a peaceful atmosphere free from fear and unwanted interventions from the security staff at the polling station but government did not bother to initiate any action against either the police or the polling staff even after reports about the manhandling of journalists by a senior police officer and restrictions on voters at a polling station in Anantnag district went viral on almost all social media sites. So obviously the claim of holding a free, fair and transparent DDC election in Jammu & Kashmir does not hold ground.
_________________________________________________________________
The manhandling of journalists against a senior police officer at a polling station in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district simply for complaining about the allegations of restrictions on voters by the local election authorities in the early morning hours though spoke volumes about the conduct of the government in the entire poll management process particularly the handling of security issues now directly looked after by Home Ministry from New Delhi, but the investigation and the action expected from the government was neither announced nor implemented. For fair and transparent elections government has to ensure a peaceful atmosphere free from fear and unwanted interventions from the security staff at the polling station but government did not bother to initiate any action against either the police or the polling staff even after reports about the manhandling of journalists by a senior police officer and restrictions on voters at a polling station in Anantnag district went viral on almost all social media sites. So obviously the claim of holding a free, fair and transparent DDC election in Jammu & Kashmir does not hold ground.
