Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah and National conference will boycott the local and Panchayat election. They will not cast vote unless or until Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) takes effective steps to protect the contentious article 35-A of the constitution. The controversial article 35-A is being challenged in the Supreme Court.
Farooq Abdullah quoted as saying, “the core group of National Conference (NC) unanimously decided that the NC will not participate in these elections unless and until the government of India and the state government clarify their positions in this regard and take effective steps for protection of Article 35-A in and outside the courts.”
He further said, the decision to hold urban local body polls and Panchayat election were taken in a hurried manner, without considering the prevailing situation created by the powers that be by unnecessarily fiddling with Article 35-A”.
Farooq Abdullah said the stands of the central government and the present dispensation in Jammu and Kashmir before the Supreme Court goes “clearly against the wishes and aspirations of the people of the state.”
The Joint Resistance Leadership, the alliance of separatist leadership in Kashmir had on Monday also announced a boycott of the panchayat and ULB polls.
Governor Satya Pal Malik, the State Administrative Council (SAC) had announced on August 30, the elections to Municipal Bodies in the Jammu and Kashmir to be conducted in four phases between October 1, 2018 and October 5, 2018. Meanwhile, elections to Panchayats, that have not been conducted in Jammu and Kashmir since 2011, will be held in eight phases between November 8, 2018, and 4th December 2018.
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