Jammu: Accusing the BJP-led government of deliberately delaying Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Panthers Party (NPP) on Sunday said it is contemplating filing a petition in the Supreme Court for “early restoration of a democratically-elected government” in the union territory.
NPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh said an inordinate delay in the restoration of a democratic government in Jammu and Kashmir was not only unconstitutional but it also amounted to contempt of the highest court of the county.
Referring to the judgments of the Supreme Court that mandated timely conduct of Assembly elections, Singh accused the central government and the Election Commission of India of defying the apex court’s orders for “vested interests”.
The Supreme Court in its September 2018 judgment had ruled that the process of conducting Assembly elections in states, where the premature dissolution of the Lower House took place, needed to be completed within a period of six months from the date of dissolution of the House, he said.
“Even in its recent judgment announced last week pertaining to the state of Maharashtra, the Supreme Court reiterated that there is a statutory obligation to fill Assembly seats within six months so as to ensure that the people are not deprived of due representation,” Singh pointed out.
He said as the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was dissolved on November 21, 2018, elections to the state Assembly ought to have been completed before May 21, 2019. However, they were not conducted for “political and personal expediencies of helmsman at the centre and state”.
“This amounted to violation of the orders of the Supreme Court for which the JKNPP would file a petition against the authorities concerned in the apex court of the country,” the NPP leader stated.
Singh said the contempt petition shall also be filed for “unreasonably and unjustifiably” failing to hold elections in conformity with the rulings of the apex court. PTI TAS CJ CJ
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