Supreme Court of India today directed supply of copies of writ petition to Union of India and Election Commission seeking restoration of democratic govt in J&K and conduct of Assembly Elections therein without any further delay. The writ petition had been filed in the name of senior NPP leader Mrs. Manju Singh, besides BDC Chairpersons and DDC members of JKNPP by Mr. Harsh Dev Singh Advocate and Former Minister in J&K Govt.
Mr. Harsh Dev submitted that the Democracy continues to be abused and outraged in J&K by the present rulers behaving as unquestionable despots and running the affairs of the govt for the last five years in J&K through their proxies. And when the people press for restoration of democratic govt, the helmsmen either issue a statement assuring early elections or silence the protagonists of democracy through the coercive apparatus of the state. With all this happening for the last five years, democracy continues to be delayed and denied in J&K on one pretext or the other in contravention of the spirit of the constitution and the ‘obiter dicta’ and rulings of the Apex Court of the country.
Mr. Singh averred that the Supreme Court on several occasions has held that Assembly Elections must be held within six months in all those States/UTs where Assemblies are pre-maturely dissolved. Even in the recent Judgement of the Supreme Court pertaining to the State of Maharashtra, the top court re-iterated that there is statutory obligation to fill Assembly seats within six months so as to ensure that the people were not deprived of due representation. “You can’t create a constitutional void, a hiatus situation for the constituencies”, the Supreme Court has again observed adding further that it is the people who eventually suffer in the absence of an elected representative to espouse their cause. Denying democratic govt is a punishment to the people, as observed by the top court as well.
Mr. Harsh Dev argued that the Assembly Elections continue to be denied in J&K on flimsy grounds only to enable the BJP to run the affairs of govt in J&K through its chosen ones. J&K has been deprived of democratic govt for the last five years. Elections are being delayed and denied and continue to be postponed for one reason or the other. Sometimes they are denied on the grounds of the security scenario, sometimes on the pretext of unfinished Delimitation exercise, sometimes on the grounds of Amar Nath Ji pilgrimage, while at other times by taking the plea of intense cold or hot weather conditions or heavy snowfall. And while the constitution continues to be subverted by taking freakish excuses to deny Democracy to the people of J&K, the rulings of Supreme Court on time bound restoration of democratic govts in States/UTs too continue to be violated with impunity by the present rulers.
Delaying the elections on the pretext of initiation of the Delimitation process was also unjustified. When the State of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and the state of Telangana created, no Delimitation was held and Assembly Elections were conducted immediately thereafter. It was then stated that no delimitation can take place in the country before first census after the year 2026 in view of constitutional Amendment effected by the then NDA govt in 2001-2002. In the case of J&K however, the very same NDA was adopting different yardsticks to delay and deny elections with a view to continue its proxy rule. Even the Delimitation Commission worked at snails pace giving rise to speculations that it had so prolonged the exercise at the behest of BJP. With the people having been deprived of popular rule and their right to have an elected govt of their own, the onus also lay on the ECI and Delimitation Commission to explain and justify their role as autonomous bodies.
Advocate Mr.Singh apprised the Court that the Election Commission had earlier taken a call for simultaneous polls of Assembly and Parliament in 2019 which however did not materialize due to the interference by one political party. ECI later issued a statement on 4th June, 2019 stating therein that the EC after the conduct of Amarnath Yatra will announce the election schedule for the conduct of Assembly Elections in J&K it too turned out to be a damp squib. And during the visit of the Full Election Commission headed by CEC to J&K in February, 2019 all political parties except BJP had favoured Assembly Elections in J&K in April–May, 2019. The said Elections were however avoided at the behest of BJP alone to keep the ruling party in good humour. Likewise, statements of early Assembly polls were issued by central govt, Governor and the Lt. Governor of J&K also, which too have created only cynicism amongst the masses in view of the frequency with which they were made and then forgotten.
Mr. Singh maintained that the ECI too had gone in hibernation. Is it an indirect support to BJP by allowing its proxy rule to continue in the troubled territory of J&K. At stake therefore is not only the institution but all that the constitution stands for. The ECI was holding elections in other states without uttering a single word about J&K Elections which are being denied for the last around five years since 2018. And only recently the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K made a statement that the PRI’s, local bodies and Parliament elections would be held as per schedule in the current financial year itself. But what about the Assembly elections? Why are ECI and the BJP govt keeping mum over the issue despite all bottlenecks including delimitation and publication of electoral rolls after creation of new assembly constituencies having been finalized besides, normalcy as never before also having been restored.
The pertinent question which arises therefore is whether a democratic govt could be denied to the people for long as five years and that too without any justifiable reason. Elections are said to be the Bed Rock of democracy. They have been held to be the barometer of democracy by the top court of the country. There can be no democracy without free and periodic elections. In Indira Gandhi Vs Raj Narain Case, the Supreme Court held that all the seven judges who constituted the majority in Kesavananda Bharti’s case were agreed that “democratic process was part of the basic structure of the constitution and that holding periodic elections was a constitutional obligation. Likewise there are several judgements of the Apex court of the country mandating periodic elections which however continue to be violated by the powers that be.
The case was heard by a three Judge SC Bench headed by the Chief Justice (CJI) who directed the supply of copies of the writ petition to central agencies i.e the Union of India and ECI and directed that the further hearing on the matter would be held on or after 11th July on which date a Special Bench has been constituted to hear other matters related to the UT of J&K.
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