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J&K civic poll put off again Hurriyat constituent’s office raided,
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J&K civic poll put off again Jammu, January 9 The chief electoral officer issued the schedule for these elections on Wednesday and the postponement has come two days later. It is learnt that the Congress is hesitant to face the electorate at the moment because of its annoyance due to the failure of the Mufti government to implement the promises that were made by the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, in last year’s Assembly elections, particularly for meeting the aspirations of the Jammu region. There were reports that certain ministers belonging to the Congress party barged into the office of the Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, here yesterday and sought the postponement of the elections. Sources said the Mufti, who has been put in an embarrassing position, has decided to postpone the elections on the plea that the Election Commission has already announced a revision of the electoral rolls from January 12 and the elections for the municipal bodies should be held on the basis of the revised rolls. This is for the third time that the elections have been postponed in the past four months. The elections have not been held for the past 24 years on one pretext or the other and the municipalities were headed by government appointed officials. Holding of the civic elections was an important point in the common minimum programme of the coalition government. The government had recently upgraded the municipal councils of Jammu and Srinagar as municipal corporations and elections to these were to be held for the first time. Besides, there are six municipal councils and 60 municipalities in the state. The National Conference and BJP were to contest all seats without any electoral alliance with any party. The Panthers Party, which is a partner in the coalition government, had also said that it would go to the polls independently. The PDP of Mufti Sayeed is now trying to convince the people that the elections were being postponed because of the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll. However, sources said the Congress, which was the major partner in the government, was not in a position to face the electorate and was also unable to choose the candidates for the civic poll because of intense infighting. The party won 20 seats, mostly from Jammu, in the Assembly last year on the promise of choosing a Chief Minister from Jammu and appointing a statutory finance commission and a separate set-up to ensure balanced development among the three regions of the state and an equal flow of funds so that no region felt discriminated against. However, none of these promises has been fulfilled so far. It is learnt that the dissatisfied Congress activists are likely to bring these issues to the notice of Ms Sonia Gandhi when she comes here on January 19 in a bid to quell dissidence in this strategic state. She will review the functioning of the coalition government. Some ministers, legislators and functionaries of the Congress rushed to Delhi today to appraise the high command of these developments. Meanwhile, the vice-president and spokesman of the BJP, Prof Hari Om, described the postponement of the civic elections as an attack on the democratic right of the people. He described it as a “dubious game-plan” to deny the people at the grass-roots to manage their own civic affairs. He alleged that the Congress and Panthers Party were shy of contesting the elections, as they feared a debacle because of their failure to remove discrimination against the Jammu region. |
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Hurriyat constituent’s office raided, two detained
Srinagar, January 9 A police party raided the League office at Rajbagh and took into custody its chief organiser Ghulam Mohiuddin of Tral and district president, Srinagar, Yaar Mohammad Khan of Nowpora locality of the city, the sources said. The police also searched the office during the raid, the sources said, adding the reason behind the raid was not known. Meanwhile, PoK based convener of the Hurriyat Conference and head of PFL Mohammad Farooq Rehmani condemned the raid and demanded release of the two party leaders. In a faxed statement to PTI here, Mr Rehmani alleged that Mufti Mohammed Syed-led government was “hoodwinking” the international community by propagating that there would be no restrictions on the activities of those engaged in political struggle.
— PTI |
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