Plea filed in SC seeking early assembly elections in J-K

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Election Commission and the government for holding early assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

The petition has been filed by senior advocate Harsh Dev Singh on the behalf of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party leader Manju Singh, chairman block development council, Ramnagar, Des Raj, and district development committee, Udhampur, member, Ashri Devi.

In a statement, Harsh Dev Singh, who is also a former Jammu and Kashmir minister, said, "J&K has been deprived of a democratic government for the last four years. Elections are being delayed and denied and continue to be postponed for one reason or the other."

He said he has prayed for the revival of a people's government in the Union Territory in consonance with the spirit of the Constitution and successive rulings of the top court.

The date of hearing is yet to be fixed by the Supreme Court registry, the senior advocate said.

Harsh Dev Singh said the court on several occasions has held that assembly elections must be held within six months in all those states and Union Territories where assemblies are pre-maturely dissolved.

Even in a recent judgment of the Supreme Court pertaining to the state of Maharashtra, the top court reiterated that there is statutory obligation to fill assembly seats within six months so as to ensure that people were not deprived of due representation, he claimed.

Harsh Dev Singh said assembly elections continue to be denied in Jammu and Kashmir on "flimsy" grounds.

"Sometimes they are denied on the grounds of security scenario, sometimes on the pretext of unfinished delimitation exercise, sometimes on the grounds of the Amarnath pilgrimage, while at other times by taking the plea of intense cold or hot weather conditions or heavy snowfall," he said.