Assembly or parliament elections in Jammu and Kashmir have been always attracting lot of attention not only here but at the national level also. More so since 1996. While polls getting lot of importance is a natural thing but those behind ( election authorities) the conduct of polls also remain in focus during that time.
Jammu and Kashmir has seen a number of such faces from time to time. B R Sharma took over as the new state election commissioner a few days back. A former chief secretary, Sharma was the chief electoral officer (CEO) in 2008 when assembly polls were held.
Prior and after him also a number of CEOs have been instrumental in conducting smooth, successful and free and fair elections. Presently, P K Pole is holding the fort as CEO. The chief electoral officers have not only to conduct the polls but present the process and subsequent voting percentage in a transparent manner before the people through media. On polling and election result days, these very officers remain on toes.
With time, the job of election authorities continued to become easier and at times challenging also due to more involvement of people into the electoral process and consequent increasing poll percentage in assembly polls. This was because unlike past the polls in Jammu and Kashmir did not remain like a one side thing.
With the joining of more relevant political players and parties into the electoral fray, the voters get lot of options to elect among the candidates and the parties. Since 1996 there have been no serious complaints by the contesting candidates that polls were rigged in favour of any particular candidate or party.
The electoral exercises remained by and large transparent and fair. This atmosphere of free and fair polls motivated other people, who usually used not to vote, to come and vote for the candidates or parties of their choice. Holding of free and fair polls continued to remain the essence of such exercises.
Since the votes through free and fair polls empowered the voters to bring a change of their choice and keep the non- performing ruling parties and their leaders out of power, it also paved way for the people to take part in large numbers in such exercises.
This proved a healthy sign for the electoral democracy. Whether to do justice or not with the mandate of people is the choice of ruling parties. But election results have shown that the ruling parties and leaders not coming upto the expectations of the people had to exit from the power corridors after the polls. Every party and leader realises this thing now and that is why they want to reach out to people across Jammu and Kashmir and get their support. There is a healthy competition among the political parties in this direction.
One thing is very much clear that unlike past it is difficult to mislead the voters during present times since the activities, statements and working are under the constant glare of media and social media. Gone are the days when a leader would say something in Srinagar and then other things in Jammu or New Delhi and people would not know.
Because of traditional media and social media boom everything happening anywhere reaches a person within minutes. This has put the leaders and parties under more public scrutiny. In a way it is also helping the leaders and parties to work more seriously without being careless about what they say or do. They do not want to be seen publicly against the policies they propagate.
Right now the political parties have been expressing displeasure over delay in assembly polls. Whatever be the reasons for the delay, the polls have to happen sooner or later. Whether before parliament polls or after that, the polls may not be delayed for long.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in a latest interview with Doordarshan said that his administration is ready whenever the Election Commission takes call for holding assembly elections. He added that the Election Commission had to complete certain tasks including delimitation and revision of voter lists and those have been done. Lieutenant Governor stated that whenever the Election Commission decides to hold assembly polls in J&K, the administration is fully prepared for the exercise. He stated that the issue is unnecessarily being politicised.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Jammu recently had said that the democratic process would soon be initiated in Jammu and Kashmir. However, he did not give a specific timeline for it. “With the abrogation of Article 370 (of the Constitution), our aim is to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir as swiftly as possible. We are committed to commencing the democratic process in the region at the earliest, thus fulfilling the long-standing aspirations of its people,” he said.
Understanding that the assembly polls will be held anytime, all political parties are busy making the initial preparations. They are also busy in making preparations for the Lok Sabha polls, which can be held in April- May next year in the country.
Even a party like BJP, which is dominating the political scene in the country, is not taking the voters in J&K non- seriously. The party is doing everything possible so that it can form its own government and have its own chief minister. Over the years BJP leaders have tried to cover all the uncovered areas in Kashmir also.
They are busy persuading the people to vote for their party. With their outreach the BJP leaders intend to give a tough competition to Kashmir based parties in Kashmir. Having ruled J&K several times from time to time in the past, National Conference, Congress and PDP are finding it difficult to answer some of the questions regarding their rule.
At the election time the questions may become more difficult to answer. Saying one thing while in opposition and doing other thing while in power may be some of the questions for which the leaders have to be ready during elections. Being politicians, they know such issues would be raised and they, therefore, are trying to “clarify their positions” much early.
Every party has a right to keep their policies, performance and future manifestos before the people but ultimately it is the people, who through free and fair polls, have to decide their fate. These free and fair polls have been a reality in elections across the country. That is also the soul of Indian democracy. The fair exercises sometimes provide such results which take others by surprise.
Author is senior editor, Greater Kashmir.