New Delhi- Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted before September 30, Union Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday.
Speaking at CNN-News18 Rising India Summit 2024 in New Delhi, Shah said, “Voting in Jammu and Kashmir will happen before the Supreme Court of India’s deadline of September 30.”
On December 11, 2023, the apex court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30, 2024.
“We direct that steps shall be taken to conduct elections for the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir by September 30, 2024, and statehood shall be restored as soon as possible,” the bench said.
The last Assembly polls in J&K were held in 2014. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) formed a coalition government with the BJP. But in 2018, the BJP pulled out of the alliance and the government collapsed. Following that, the Assembly was dissolved and the Governor’s Rule came into place.
On August 5, 2019, the Centre abrogated Article 370 and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into the Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Slamming the opposition, the Union Home Minister, at the summit, also mentioned that those who have denied democracy and welfare to Kashmir for 75 years should be punished.
Talking about BJP’s performance in the upcoming Lok Sabha 2024 elections, Shah said he believes the party will give its best performance to date in Uttar Pradesh and will get more seats than in the 2014 polls.
The minister also stated that India will defeat the ‘parivaar-waad’ parties.
The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is the BJP government’s promise to India that all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis should be ruled under one law, Amit Shah stressed.
There will be no interference in religion and religious practices of these sects, but a common law will govern them, as had been decided by the makers of the Constitution, Shah pointed out. “This (UCC) has been the issue for the BJP (Jan Sangh) since 1950s. We truly believe there should be one law for all in a secular country like India,” Shah said.
The Union home minister explained that the BJP accepted the UCC as the “guiding principle”, which BR Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Jawahar Lal Nehru and Rajendra Prasad too believed in. They decided that the UCC should be implemented in the country during the right time, and the BJP government in Uttarakhand did it.
When News18 told Shah that the DMK, which is part of the INDIA alliance, has said it will repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and UCC when it will come to power, Shah quipped that “won’t happen”.
On Opposition parties’ counter that the Muslims of India have the right to live as per the Sharia law, Shah said such practices have already been abandoned even by the Islamic countries. He said the Muslims of India have not been living under the Sharia law since 1937. “This is Congress’ appeasement policy,” he added.
“Pelting stones on rapists to death, chopping the hands off thieves, hanging anti-nationals, does the Opposition want this to happen?” Shah questioned.
‘Punish Those Who Deprived You Of Democracy’
As Jammu and Kashmir goes for its first major election since the abrogation of Article 370, Union minister Amit Shah at the CNN-News18 Rising India Summit 2024 on Wednesday said it does not matter whether the BJP will get a mandate in the Union Territory, but the three ‘Parivarvadi parties’ – the Congress, National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) – who did not let democracy flourish in the region should be wiped out.
The people of Kashmir should be brave. They should “punish” those who kept them deprived of democracy and constitutional rights for 75 years. “You can vote for whichever party you want, but these three parties (Congress, NC, PDP) should be taught a lesson,” Shah said.
With five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir going to polls from next month, Shah said, “I want to say to all the Muslim brothers and sisters of the Valley that if you want democracy to reach to the grassroots of Kashmir, then you must wipe out these three political parties.”
On the grass-root development in Kashmir, Shah said, “Since Independence, the region has not witnessed the Panchayat election. For the first time, we appointed 30,000 Sarpanches and Panches. We formed Tehsils and Zila Parishads in Kashmir.”
When asked about reforms in the region after the removal of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Shah said, “Today, every Kashmiri gets an annual health insurance of Rs 5 lakh, water supply and rice, tourism is flourishing, theatres have opened after 30 years, this is all because of democracy.”
About the dates for the assembly elections in Kashmir, Shah said as per the Supreme Court order, the electoral exercise should be conducted by September.
The five Lok Sabha constituencies going for polls are Udhampur, Baramulla, Srinagar, Anantnag and Jammu. Voting will take place in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will take place on June 4.
In the 2019 election, the NDA won 2 seats while Jammu Kashmir National Conference won 3 seats. Ladakh, which was part of J&K then, was won by the BJP.
The BJP has fielded Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh and sitting MP Jugal Kishore from Udhampur and Jammu Parliamentary seats, respectively.
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