Omkar Dattatray
The democracy has once again triumphed in the mountainous region of Jammu and Kashmir.The gullible people of the UT have took active part in the just concluded Assembly polls. The polls culminated into the birth of NC-Congress alliance government & Omar Abdullah took oath of office and secrecy as the first chief minister of a Union territory .The assembly polls witnessed an unprecedented and overwhelming participation of the voters perhaps for the first time since 2014 polls .The overall voter turnout of all the three phases of polls was staggering 63.86 percent which is significant by any measure and standard. People of J&K have again reposed their trust and confidence in their democratic destiny and there were long queues of voters seen near the polling stations and there was enthusiasm among the young ,first time voters including West Pakistan refugees ,POJK refugees ,Valmikis and Gurkha community and their feelings and emotions were very high as they voted for the first time since the start of the electoral democracy or we can say that these communities exercised their right to vote for the first time since 1950.The successful conclusion of peaceful assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir signifies ,represents ,reflects and symbolizes the victory of democracy and it points towards the fact that democracy has been successful with completion of free and fair polls in the electoral history of J&K and thus we can take pride in the fact that for first time after the abrogation of controversial Article 370 as well as the downsizing of the state into UT and division of JK into two UT’s of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is a commendable and challenging job for this the voters and other public of J&K ,political parties ,ECI,UT’s electoral officer, other officials of the LG administration and all the security forces including the J&K police all should be appreciate for the successful culmination of the Assembly polls and it will not be an exaggeration to say that democracy has triumphed with the active participation and involvement of voters and all stakeholders as all have contributed to the successful completion of the electoral exercise in J&K paving way for the constitution of a democratic ,popular and people’s government for the first time after the end of 10 years gap .This UT polls, the people have trusted and given majority mandate in favor of NC-Congress alliance and have also mandated BJP to perform the important and indispensible role of a viable, effective and strong opposition so that coalition government headed by Omar is reminded to perform and deliver to the best of its capacity for the people of JK who have reposed their faith ,trust and confidence in NC-Congress coalition .The political churning of elections has produced the nectar in the form of NC-Congress coalition government which should come up to the expectations of the orphaned and alienated people of the UT .Now it remains to be seen how will the new coalition arrangement function to the best of its capacity and deliver the best for the people of Jammu and Kashmir..The new government of NC-Congress headed by Omar Abdullah should without involving into controversial political issues and tussle with the LG & centre government should try to address the issues and concerns of the people .The chief election commissioner of India Rajive Kumar has said that the spirit of democracy has triumphed because of the significant participation of the voters and it is no ordinary thing and the people ,ECI,CEO OF UT,LG administration ,security forces should feel proud for the successful and peaceful as well as free and fair polls .India’s standing and stature has got a boost due to the peaceful ,successful and overwhelming participation of the voters of every segment in the historical and crucial polls .The unprecedented and overwhelming participation of the voters indicates that in this and through this assembly polls ,democracy has once again been victorious in J&K thus giving a befitting replay to Pakistan and its sponsored terrorists .In fact the successful JK elections which saw no untoward incident sounds a defeat to the forces of doom and is a death kneel to terrorism and thus ballot has defeated bullets .The nefarious designs of terrorists and their mentors across the border has been frustrated and defeated. The successful culmination of the recent assembly polls in JK shows that people want change, normalcy and development and ever larger participation of the voters in the median polls shows the triumph of democracy.CEC Rajiv Kumar stated that the spirit of democracy triumphed as the assembly polls this time culminated successfully with the ever larger participation of the voters .It was in 2024 Lok Sabha elections ,that the people of Kashmir started reposing faith in democracy .It became crystal clear after the Assembly elections that democracy is now gaining roots with record increase in the voter turnout and voting percentage in the UT .The peaceful conclusion of the participative electoral process in JK is a triumph of democratic spirit and a testament to the resilience of the people of the UT is what CEC Rajiv Kumar said .The gesture of embracing democracy strengthens its foundations and the people have now charted their democratic journey to ever greater heights and have elected their representatives .The will of the people of J&K has been conveyed as the historic legislative assembly has been constituted and now NC-Congress alliance government has been formed and first chief minister Omar Abdullah has been sworn and he took the reins of the government from LG as the swearing ceremony of the Omar Abdullah and his team of ministers have been administered oath of office and secrecy by LG Manoj Shina at SKICC at the banks of Dal Lake in a glittering function attended by many VVIP’s some from Delhi and other states of India mostly from INDIA bloc. Assembly elections were held in J&K after a decade and were the first since provisions of Article 370 of the constitution were abrogated and the erstwhile state divided into two UT’s of Jammu and Kashmir & Ladakh in 2019.Following the much needed delimitation exercise ,the number of assembly seats were increased from 83 to 90,excluding to those allocated to POK .In short the democracy has triumphed as the people again embraced democracy by actively participating in the crucial assembly polls and have elected the NC-Congress coalition of their choice .Now all eyes are set on the new dispensation as how will it try to implement the promises and assurances given in the poll manifestoes and the government should begin on a positive note and thus leave the political issues to be followed after some time.
(The author is a columnist, social and KP activist).
