Anantnag by-election countermanded; NC, Congress slam Mufti government

SRINAGAR: The Election Commission of India has indefinitely deferred the Lok Sabha by-poll to Anantnag, earlier postponed to May 25, as it feels the atmosphere was unconducive for a free and fair poll.

The ECI order said that the J&K government had informed it that there was an increase in militancy and deterioration of law and order, especially in south Kashmir, and that it feared a very low voter turnout.

The Union home ministry too refused to provide 687 companies of Central forces to guard 1,117 polling stations and agreed to only 250 companies, ECI said.

The brother of J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, candidate of the ruling coalition, Tasaduq Mufti, had earlier urged ECI to cancel elections, even though Congress candidate Ghulam Ahmad Mir, supported by the National Conference, had demanded that polls be held and ECI should visit the constituency for fair assessment of the ground situation.

But ECI said the decision was also because of the upcoming Amarnath Yatra, Ramazan and tourist season.

The electoral officer, as per ECI statement, feared that personnel may be reluctant to go to polling stations. “The election would be held by the commission within due course, when the situation becomes conducive to the holding of free, fair and peaceful elections,” the ECI order said.

The opposition lashed out at the PDP-BJP coalition with National Conference leader Omar Abdullah terming the decision as a ‘symbolic victory’ for Hurriyat leaders and militants.

Abdullah said that the indefinite deferment of the by-poll was similar to militants’ ‘symbolic victory against India’ when the VP Singh government released militants in lieu of Mehbooba Mufti’s abducted sister Rubaiya Sayed in December 1989. “Don’t make the mistake of underestimating the symbolic victory of the 5% who bought the might of government in Srinagar/Delhi to knees,” Abdullah tweeted.

“The only things keeping Mehbooba Mufti in the office are her shamelessness and a misplaced sense of pride in Delhi preventing admission of mistake,” said another Abdullah tweet.