post-370-abrogation-kashmiris-feel-more-aligned-than-alienated

Much water has flown down the Jhelum since August 5, 2019, when Article 370 of the Indian constitution was abrogated.

 

Although a perception was created about it being a permanent article, it was a temporary article, a constitutional fact underlined by the Supreme Court of India when it upheld its abrogation. 

 

While initially, people in Kashmir valley had expressed strong resentment and reservation about the abrogation, over some time, their faith has been restored and the common refrain in the valley remains that ‘post-Article 370 abrogation’, people of Kashmir have felt more aligned than alienated from the rest of the country. 

 

No wonder, people who till a few years ago were at best indifferent and at worst hostile to any electoral process, have started demanding the holding of elections.

 

The assembly elections in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have to be conducted before September 2024, a deadline set by the Supreme Court of India. 

 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also announced on Wednesday that the assembly elections will be held before September. 

 

This means the UT will remain in the election mode for another five months continuously as General Elections have already been announced and will be immediately followed by the assembly elections.

 

However, there needs to be clarity as of now when the UT will be restored to the status of full statehood, a demand being raised by almost every political party there.

 

In case the statehood is not restored to JK, it will be for the first time since independence that JK will be going to elections as a union territory instead of a full-fledged state. 

 

By the time the assembly elections will be held, the erstwhile state will already have lost a complete tenure of six years. Unlike in the rest of the country where assembly elections like the General Elections are held every five years, in JK the tenure of the assembly prior to the abrogation of Article 370 was six years.

 

The General Elections were held every five years along with the rest of the country.

 

It was in June 2018 that Governor’s Rule was imposed after the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew its support to the People’s Democratic Party headed by Mehbooba Mufti. 

 

This will be the second longest tenure of Governor/President’s rule in the erstwhile state. Earlier JK remained under Governor/President’s Rule from January 1990 to October 1996.

 

Unlike in the rest of the country, before the abrogation of Article 370, the state if and when needed, was put first under the Governor’s Rule for the first six months. 

 

It was followed by the imposition of the President’s Rule in case the elected government was not in place by that time. In the rest of the country, the state comes directly under the President’s Rule if and when needed for whatever reasons. 

 

However, in between this period of the President’s Rule, the 2019 General Elections and for the local bodies like District Development Committees and Panchayats were also conducted. 

 

Besides, delimitation of the assembly segments was also carried out and the number of assembly seats was increased to 90 from 83. 

 

Total number of seats for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly is 114 after the delimitation. 24 seats have been reserved for the areas under the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).

 

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party had earlier made it a condition that they would participate in the elections only after the statehood is restored. 

 

NC leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is on record having said that he will not contest assembly elections till JK is not restored to statehood. 

 

However, of late, he has not said anything like that and appears to be keenly waiting for the elections to be held in the UT. At the same time, there is great anticipation that restoring statehood is just a matter of time. 

 

Besides, the National Conference, other parties include the Bharatiya Janata Party, the People’s Democratic Party led by former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, the People’s Party led by Sajad Lone, a former separatist leader, the Democratic Progressive Azad Party led by another former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jammu Kashmir Apni party and a few more splinter groups.