‘Islamabad-Rajouri poll deferment conspiracy to disenfranchise Gujjar-Bakerwal population’
Srinagar: Main regional political parties in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir have termed the Election Commission of India’s decision to defer the polling for the Islamabad-Rajouri parliamentary constituency as a conspiracy to disenfranchise the nomadic Gujjar-Bakerwal population.
According to Kashmir Media Service, despite stiff opposition from the major political parties in IIOJK, the ECI, in an extraordinary gazette notification the other day, deferred the polling for the Islamabad-Rajouri constituency from May 7 to May 25. The ECI notification came after the BJP and other political parties which are widely seen as the allies of the saffron party approached the commission for deferring the polls.
The ECI announcement has come at a time when the tribal Gujjars and Bakerwals, who make a significant percentage of voters in the constituency, are set to begin their annual migration to the higher reaches of Pir Panjal mountains, raising question marks on their ability to vote.
National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah termed the ECI’s decision unfortunate, saying that it was a conspiracy to disenfranchise the nomadic Gujjar-Bakkerwal population who form a significant vote bank of his party candidate. “The BJP is well aware that these tribal people are in the higher pastures along with their livestock (by May 25). They also know who these tribal people vote for. The Election Commission should not have allowed this to happen,” he said in a media interview.
PDP spokesperson Mohit Bhan in a post on X called it the sheer nervousness of Delhi. Taking a dig at the BJP’s narrative of so-called Naya Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370, he said, “Denying procedural space to people to exercise their franchise after gerrymandering the entire constituency shows how Delhi is aware of people’s mood and their failed narrative of Naya Kashmir.”
Earlier, Mehbooba Mufti had warned that any attempt to defer the polling will dent the credibility of the election while comparing such a move to the rigging of 1987 assembly election in IIOJK.
