Politics

Stage set for fresh Assembly polls in J&K

BJP's victory march in Municipal polls has boosted the morale of party workers

October 22, 2018

Governor SP Malik made it clear in a recent interview to a national news agency that he was in favor of holding fresh assembly polls in the state.

After witnessing BJP’s stupendous performance in the Municipal polls in the state of Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has lost no time in floating the idea of holding early assembly elections in the state.

The final decision on holding Assembly polls would be taken after the culmination of eight phase Panchayat poll process in the state.

In a recent interview to a national news agency, Governor SP Malik made it clear that he was in favor of holding fresh assembly polls in the state as there was no scope of forming a new government in the state under the present circumstances.

“The decision will be taken by the Centre and the Election Commission. My job is to discharge dual responsibility (of Governor and administrator) which I will continue to do… I wish that elections are held at the earliest,” he said.

By saying so Governor has set the ball rolling as he is expected to send a report to the Union government ahead of taking a final decision to dissolve the state assembly.

Interestingly, in the light of these developments, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is also scheduled to visit the state on a day-long visit on October 23.

He is expected to hold parleys with the leaders of the mainstream political parties and the senior security officers in Kashmir valley.

His visit to the state is also seen as an extension of the well-timed strategy to complete the ground-work before announcing the decision.

Though the security scenario continues to remain grim but recently the state government has managed to hold peaceful Urban local bodies polls.

In the next phase, the state government is set to hold the Panchayat polls in the state beginning November 17.

The final decision on holding Assembly polls would be taken after the culmination of eight phase Panchayat poll process in the state.

BJP top brass wants to retain J&K and utilize the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to garner votes in the Assembly polls too.

BJP’s performance is set to change the course of state politics?

Even before the poll results were announced prominent political pundits had predicted that in case BJP performed well in the Municipal polls the party top brass would go ahead and announce assembly polls along side Lok Sabha polls.

In Jammu region, BJP won 212 wards out of 520 wards while it managed to find foot-hold in Kashmir valley by winning at least 100 wards for the first time at the grass-roots level in the region. By winning an absolute majority in 13 other municipal committees BJP is at present controlling 40 percent seats at the grass-roots level across 10 districts of the state in Jammu region.

BJP, however, failed to open its account in the Ladakh region. Here, Congress won all the 13 seats in the Ladakh Municipal committee and five seats in Kargil. Six seats in the region were captured by the independent candidates. BJP, however, failed to replicate its performance in the hilly districts of Doda, Ramban, and Kishtwar. Party won 14 out of 70 wards in these three districts. In Udhampur, the party won 14 out of 41 wards.

In the overall tally, Congress won 110 seats across Jammu region. 185 seats were won by the Independent candidates while 13 seats went to National Panthers party (NPP).

While celebrating the victory of party here in the state BJP headquarters State BJP Chief Ravinder Raina told reporters,” people of Jammu and Kashmir voted for BJP’s landslide victory at the grass-roots level in these polls.

Since BJP had won 25 Assembly seats from Jammu region in 2014 Assembly polls party’s better performance in the municipal polls is set to embolden the party leadership to take the electoral plunge along with Lok Sabha polls.

BJP top brass wants to retain J&K and utilize the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to garner votes in the Assembly polls too. Even during the Municipal polls, the party leaders relied heavily on the charisma of Modi to sail through troubled waters.

We will have our own Chief Minister in the state if the party manages to win an absolute majority of our own in the state Assembly polls in the state, Raina told reporters

No government formation in the offing?

After the fall of the BJP-PDP led alliance government in the state Governor’s rule was imposed in June 2018.

For some time speculations were rife that party would prefer forging an alliance with support from some of the like-minded legislators unhappy with the approach of Mehbooba Mufti.

Since the idea failed to take shape political pundits also cautioned the party top brass against taking the back-door route to return to power. Around this time the party top brass decided to wait for the outcome of the municipal poll results.

Now after testing political waters here in Jammu region, the party leadership is in an upbeat mood and fully geared up to take part in the poll process.

State party Chief Ravinder Raina has already set a goal of winning at least 50 Assembly seats in the next Assembly elections in the state. We will have our own Chief Minister in the state if the party manages to win an absolute majority of our own in the state Assembly polls in the state, Raina told reporters during the press conference here in the party headquarters on Sunday.

Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.