The controversy over Article 35A and Article 370 has threatened to derail J&K elections to urban local bodies and panchayats, due later this year.
New Delhi: The Narendra Modi-led NDA government is determined to go ahead with the upcoming panchayat and municipal polls in Jammu & Kashmir despite a call to boycott by the Valley’s biggest players, a top home ministry source has said.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Bharatiya Janata Party’s former ally, as well as the National Conference (NC) have vowed to stay away from the elections over the controversy surrounding Article 35A and Article 370, constitutional provisions that lay down special concessions for J&K.
According to the source, one of the ways being explored to weather the boycott is to restrict the urban local body polls to independent candidates, on the lines of the panchayat elections.
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Although backed by different parties, candidates in panchayat polls are independents on paper. But in the urban local body polls, it’s the parties that give mandates to candidates.
“The panchayat polls are contested by independent candidates. The Centre is considering making the urban local body polls independent too,” said the source. “If that happens, the boycott call by the two parties would become irrelevant.”
If major parties boycott an election, the governor has the power to announce urban local body elections on non-party basis.
However, while the Modi government is keen to hold the elections, the local administration is wary. There is pressure on the ground to defer the urban body polls, and the state advisory council headed by Jammu & Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik is holding a meeting today to discuss the situation.
The controversy
Multiple pleas have been filed in the Supreme Court to challenge Article 35A, which bars outsiders from owning property in J&K.
Last month, the court scheduled the next hearing in the case for January, after the Centre cited the “very sensitive” nature of the matter and requested that it be deferred to after the local body and panchayat polls. While the municipal polls will be held in four phases from 1 to 5 October, the panchayat elections will take place in eight phases from 8 November to 4 December.
Last week, senior NC leader and MP Farooq Abdullah announced that his party will boycott these elections as well as the assembly and Lok Sabha elections next year, unless the Centre clarified its stand on Article 35A and Article 370, which grants the state a level of autonomy.
On Monday, former chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti made a similar announcement.
“The situation created by linking panchayat polls with the case pending in the Supreme Court on Article 35A has created apprehension in the minds of the people, who see this as an assault on the special constitutional position of the state,” said Mufti.
‘No way of going back’
The source said the elections will be held because “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared as much on Independence Day from the Lal Quila”.
“There is no way of going back, even if the local mainstream parties are not coming forth.”
In his 15 August address, Modi had promised that his government was “moving forward in the direction of holding panchayat and municipal council elections” in the state.
The state is currently under governor’s rule. The coalition government leading the state since 2015 collapsed in June after the BJP broke ranks with the PDP over the latter’s alleged “soft stance” on militancy and bias towards Kashmir.
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The source said the Centre was reviewing the situation in the Valley.
“We will see the impact of the boycott… This can hamper the poll percentage, but something needs to be done,” he added.
“The government’s rule in Kashmir can continue even without the democratic process, but elections are important,” the source said.