Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the success of the Modi Government is validated by successful, peaceful polling in Jammu and Kashmir, where even separatists voted "overwhelmingly," and has vowed that the region's Assembly elections will take place before September 30.
Shah said in an interview on Saturday that once the polls are over, the government will begin the process of restoring statehood to the Union Territory.
"I have said in Parliament that we will grant statehood after the Assembly elections," he added, adding that everything is moving as planned, including backward class surveys and the delimitation of Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies.
"We've finished the delimitation procedure. Because the reservation can only be granted once the delimitation procedure is finished. Because we need to know the status of various castes (to offer reservations). That has been done.
The Lok Sabha election has also concluded (in Jammu and Kashmir). Following that, an assembly election will be conducted. We will complete the procedure before the Supreme Court's deadline," he stated.
On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court mandated the Election Commission of India to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30, 2024.
"The voting percentage has grown. Some claimed the valley's residents did not believe in the Indian Constitution.
However, because the Kashmiri Constitution no longer exists, this election was held under the Indian Constitution. It was scrapped.
The election was held under the Indian constitution. People who wanted a separate nation, as well as those who wanted to join Pakistan, voted massively, both at the organisational and individual levels," he stated.
Shah stated that "it was a massive victory for the democracy and a big success of the Narendra Modi Government's Kashmir policy, which it has been pursuing for the last ten years."
The Election Commission said that the three Kashmir valley seats — Srinagar (38.49%), Baramulla (59.1%), and Anantnag-Rajouri (53%) — had the highest voter participation "in many decades."
When asked why the BJP did not nominate a candidate in the Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir, he stated that the party was still striving to increase its presence in the valley.
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