Amid growing corona scare across the globe the Jammu & Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer (J&K CEO) has choosen to hold a meeting at Raj Bhavan Jammu with Lieutenant Governor Grish Chandra Murmu over the election exercise, the execution of which the central government may be planning in coming months or by the year end. Holding a poll related meeting the time when people across the country are fighting a battle for life and death shows that the top helmsmen in Delhi are less concerned about the increasing spread of deadly COVID-19 pandemic and more about the poll plans of the central government in Jammu & Kashmir. Interestingly the central government preferred abrogation of article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state into two union territories over the conduct of elections to the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir assembly last year but amid COVID pandemic spread the government tends to go in haste for the implementation of delimitation of assembly constituencies, domicile law and election exercise. While the release of detainees and restoration of high speed internet services are the major issues of public concern in Jammu & Kashmir, the government is trying to impose its delimitation plans, domicile law and election exercise over the people of Jammu and Kashmir against their wishes and aspirations without taking the consent of the parliament members of both Kashmir and Jammu Lok Sabha constituencies who are the only elected representative of the people this time. Public participation is the soul of any election exercise under all circumstances and as such attempts to decide the course of elections without the consultation of the elected public representatives is an insult to democracy and more so when government plans to execute its own delimitation exercise and domicile law. Naming Lok Sabha MPs of Jammu & Kashmir as the associate members but not the full fledged members of the delimitation commission shows central government’s disrespect to public representation in Jammu & Kashmir.
Unfortunately the focus of government is less on containing increasing spread of COVID 19 in Jammu & Kashmir and more on the implementation of provocative decisions on contentious issues like elections, domicile law and delimitation exercise.
Since the fight against COVID 19 pandemic has thrown up a huge challenge to the survival of human race across the globe, the focus of both the government and as well as the people has to been on the patient care in hospitals and delivery of essential services at the door steps of the caged populations in Jammu & Kashmir like other parts of country. Unfortunately the focus of government is less on containing increasing spread of COVID 19 in Jammu & Kashmir and more on the implementation of provocative decisions on contentious issues like elections, domicile law and delimitation exercise.
