JAMMU: This time when Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke on Jammu and Kashmir in Rajya Sabha, he reflected on the Assembly elections of last year, which he said laid foundation of democracy in the Union Territory. These words resonated free and fair polls in which lakhs of voters participated with unprecedented enthusiasm, turning a new corner in the electoral history of the erstwhile state, which is now split into two union territories – J&K with a legislature, while Ladakh remains without one.
Among the remarkable things that the Home Minister counted about the elections was that not even a single bullet was fired, but the bigger accomplishment lay in the fact that not a single complaint was filed regarding any rigging in any of the hundreds of polling booths. That is what the real democracy means. It was in complete contrast to all the previous elections when such complaints would galore and the voters felt cheated .Here, thee sight cannot be lost of the rigged 1987 elections, which are traced as being at roots of the militancy that erupted in Kashmir thereafter.
PERISCOPE
Some may say that the Assembly elections of 2024 were a course correction, which indeed it was. The results were as per the way voters voted. The party – National Conference that won a majority of seats in the polls formed the government, while BJP despite having largest share in the overall voting percentage did not attempt to negate the results. That was in conformity with the democratic spirit in which the elections were held.
Three-phased Assembly polls in J&K in September-October last year had several new dimensions, which the erstwhile state had not seen ever before. First, of course that the representation of the people was increased because of the fresh delimitation undertaken for two years from 2020 to May 2022, which added six new seats in Jammu region from 37 to 43 and the Valley got 47 seats, one up from its previous tally of 46. The Delimitation Commission touched the minutest of concerns of the people living in remote areas and their plea for representation in the legislature.
Second , some may agree or not , the vote in the UT of J&K, first since the abrogation of Article 370 in which the terms of the vote and the mandate that it was to grant were clear from the very start of the election process. There was no ambiguity as to what kind of area of governance would be coming as a result of the mandate.
Third, from start to end the election process was transparent, so much that the Ministry of External Affairs facilitated visit of several Delhi-based envoys of various influential countries in the world, to see for them the way voting took place. It is very rare that the international diplomats praise the election processes, but those who visited the polling booths termed it as the manifestation of vibrant Indian democracy.
There is another part of the visit of the envoys, all of whom were seasoned diplomats, that they visited the interiors and witnessed how the voters had lined up at polling booths, with no trace of fear of the past on their faces. Instead what they saw was a glow and glorification of democracy and assertion of their voting rights.
And when Home Minister said that the Modi government laid foundation of democracy, he not only spoke of the Assembly polls but also of the grassroots democracy. More than 33,000 contestants were elected to Panchayats, Block Development Councils, and District Development Councils. The democracy clocked several miles all at once. Combined with the Assembly polls, the elected representatives to these grassroots democratic institutions brought J&K on the democratic map of the country like other states and union territories.
Now it is the responsibility of the elected representatives in the government and opposition to preserve this democratic spirit and advance it for the coming generations.
