OMKAR DATTATRAY
Encouraged by the highest voter turnout in 34 years, the election commissioner of India Rajiv kumar has made a landmark announcement that it will initiate the election process very soon .The home minister Amit Shah has also said that the government of India will start the democratic process before 30th September .It should be remembered that the Supreme Court of the country had directed ECI to conduct the assembly elections before 30th September 2024.The declaration to initiate the election process for assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir is a welcome development .Jammu and Kashmir is under governors rule for the eighth time .
After BJP broke its alliance with PDP and chief minister Mehbooba Mufti resigned ,president Ram Nath Kovind has imposed the governors rule in the state.BJP snapped its alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir .This is the eighth time the state has been put under governors rule .Since June 2018 the erstwhile state is under governors rule .Thus there is no popular government in Jammu and Kashmir and so there is big political vacuum in this part of the country and there is no connect between the administration and the people and the region is suffering from political vacuum. Political and democratic process is dormant and there is great need to initiate political process in the union territory .The assembly elections are long overdue and there is need to initiate political process in Jammu and Kashmir .
There was unneeded alienation of the people but the recent Lok Sabha polls has seen unprecedented voter turnout and the people have taken active part in the elections and it in a way is the start of the political resurgence in J &K .It is heartening that the chief election commissioner and the home minister has announced that the democratic /election process will be initiated soon to put an end to governors rule and peoples government will be framed which will end political vacuum and alienation of the people. The alienated people of Jammu and Kashmir and the regional and national political parties are anxiously and eagerly waiting for very long period to hear about the initiation of the democratic process and thus they have welcomed the landmark announcement of the chief election commissioner and the mist have been cleared by the chief election commissioner and the people as well as the political parties are jubilant about the declaration that the election process of the legislative assembly will be started very soon and this decision is of far reaching importance for the people and political parties alike and it is hoped that the people and the political parties will jump in the elections once these will be started. It will be a great day for the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the democratic process will be initiated very soon.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been denied of their right to adult suffrage for a pretty long period and they yearn for the election process to chose the government of their choice which will be responsive to the needs ,concerns of the people .It is so good that the election process to elect the legislators will be initiated very soon and in this lies the good of the people and the central government .It has come to fore that the prime minister Narendra Modi is very much concerned and interested in initiation of the democratic process .
In a democracy, you cannot deny the democratic right to elect a government of the people’s choice to the citizens and therefore the ECI which has the monopoly to conduct the elections in the country has declared in no uncertain terms and categorically that the election process will be initiated soon to give a chance to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to elect their democratic representatives who can form of government of their choice .It will be a day of great political resurgence that the democratic process will be started soon .Governors rule is no alternative for a popular government .It is an time gap arrangement ,but in case of Jammu and Kashmir the governors rule has continued for a very long period against the will of the people. Now with the Supreme Courts intervention the ECI has acceded to conduct the assembly elections before the dead line of 30th September .
The active participation of the people and political parties in the recent Lok Sabha elections and the tremendous voter turnout has encouraged the ECI and opened its eyes to announce the initiation of democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir very soon to end the alienation of the people and the end of the central rule .It is hoped that the people in very large numbers will take part in the assembly elections once they are held to pave way for the constitution of a democratic and popular government .People of the Jammu and Kashmir are eagerly waiting for the moment when the elections of the legislative assembly will be held .
All eyes are set on the election commission which will soon announce the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and the peoples and political parties long wait will be over soon and this part of the country will have a popular government soon which will be responsive to the concerns and aspirations of the people .The declaration of initiation of the political process by the chief election commissioner has generated hope and expectation among the political parties and the people alike and it is now crystal clear that the assembly elections will be initiated very soon to end the long wait of the people and political parties .
The people of Jammu and Kashmir will have a people’s government very soon which will mitigate the sufferings of the people and wipe the tears from the eyes of the alienated and forgotten people .They will have their own government very soon which will address all the issues and concerns of the people .With the assembly elections and formation of the democratic government ,alienation of the people will end and the wedge between Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi will also end and the people will embrace the national mainstream and the residual militancy and separatism will die its natural death .Any how it is very heartening and welcome development that the election process in Jammu and Kashmir will be initiated very soon to end the long wait of the people and political parties.
(The author is a columnist, social and KP activist).