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Everything is fair in J&K poll

Incredible but true. The sordid history of (rigged) Kashmir elections is beginning to repeat itself, for the umpteenth time, even before the election process has been set in motion. You can always trust the typical ingenuity of Kashmiri officialdom, traditionally atuned to the political sensitivity of its successive masters, to come up with some innovation with every new election. The beginning this time has been made with the procedure for issuing voter identity cards.

When the ID card scheme was first declared open three months ago there were no takers in the Kashmir valley. Deadline after deadline came and went without many eligible voters coming forward to get their cards. Then came the 'incentive' that the cost of photographs for the card would be borne by the government and reimbursed on the spot to the applicant. Still no response. Two main reasons for this were said to be the general disinterest in electoral politics in Kashmir, and the concern for safety in the face of the threat that militants would not spare anyone involving himself with anything to do with the election process.

Even though the Election Commission of India, the principal authority behind the I-card scheme, assured the people that this was purely a voluntary affair, the over-enthusiastic Kashmir bureaucracy had other ideas. Coercion and intimidation has been the order of the day since the outbreak of militancy in 1989. Enforcement of all sorts of repressive laws has lent administrative sanctity to coercion . Its application in the voter I-card case produced instant result. Only that it makes mockery of the EC’s assurance that it was purely a 'voluntary scheme.'

What the election authorities belonging to the 'faithful, loyal' Kashmir bureaucracy did was quite simple. In one go the law and order authorities in the districts rendered null and void thousands of personal I-cards which every individual in Jammu and Kashmir is supposed to carry at all times. These cards used to be accepted and honoured for the last 12 years by the security forces. Security checking can take place anywhere under the sun and at any hour of the day or night. In short, nobody can afford to be without an I-card, inside his home or outside. Although there is no specific order to that effect, the I-cards other than the EC's voter I-card are no longer accepted as proof of personal identity but are also seized by the checking security staff.

The net result is that there is a beeline for voter I-cards. Complaints of bribes being paid for getting the card which till only the other day used to go abegging for applicants are mounting. Suddenly there is the great spectacle to be shown to the world at large to exhibit the extraordinary high level of 'popular interest' in the election process.

Zest for innovation of techniques to 'rig/fix' successive elections in Kashmir has never been lacking. Ready-to-oblige officialdom has come to cherish the lucrative 'side-effects' of serving the 'larger interests of the nation.' Post-election promotions and (choice) postings are only the visible side of this reward. Its hidden benefits are immense.

This dubious trend, like every similar 'tradition/convention' in Kashmir administration, had been born under Sheikh Abdullah’s leadership way back in the early fifties and perfected by his successors to the degree of fine art. So much so that neutrality of the official machinery in elections is taken for granted to be an act of 'hostility' towards the ruling master, with dire consequences for its perpetrators. Punishment for 'disloyalty' is as severe as the reward for loyalty is tantalising. The very first election held to the J&K constituent assembly in 1951 could easily be characterised as the 'mother of rigged elections.'

All the 75 assembly seats were 'won' by the Sheikh-led National Conference, without contest barring in two segments in Jammu region. The Sheikh's successor, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, armed with unlimited authority (from Delhi) to 'protect the national interest in Kashmir,' went about his task with zest and zeal.

While the Sheikh had 'eliminated' his electoral challenge, in the 1951 polls held under the state's own authority, through administration machination, Bakshi added the physical factor to it when his turn came to practice it.

Opposition candidates 'disappeared' and their failure to present themselves at the time of scrutiny of their nomination papers ousted them from the contest. G M Sadiq who succeeded Bakshi (after a brief stop-gap interval) in the mid-sixties, was too refined to emulate Bakshi's rough and ready methods. Sadiq relied on a more sophisticated technique, with a ready-to-oblige bureaucracy providing the necessary support. As many as 21 of the 42 candidates from Kashmir valley in the 1967 assembly poll were declared 'elected uncontested.' Needless to say all of them belonged to the ruling (Congress) party. Their opponents were not kidnapped but only the oath forms which they had appended to their nomination papers were found 'missing' at the time of scrutiny. This wholesale disappearance of oath forms was yet another technique. It led to uncontested MLAs being dubbed as 'Khaliq made.' Abdul Khaliq happened to be the name of one of the returning officers who scored the maximum number of 'hits' for his political boss.

The Sheikh's return to power in the seventies brought back into play his favourite old techniques at various levels. Not that Sheikh Abdullah needed it to win elections. He won the 1977 assembly poll, held under governor's rule, with a thumping majority. That was the only assembly election held in his lifetime after his return to power in 1975. Yet the bureaucracy would not let go off an opportunity to prove their loyalty to him, just as they had religiously done to the Sheikh's sworn political enemies while he was in the political wilderness. Rough and ready methods embellished with the sophisticated technique of manipulating the official machinery became the accepted norm in the civic and panchayat elections held under the Sheikh's rule.

Farooq Abdullah continued the legacy, although he too did not need to resort to such practices, considering his relative political strength. In the 1987 assembly election the bureaucracy went for a still bolder method. It selectively appointed returning officers in over a dozen 'marginal constituencies', manipulated the counting procedure to the detriment of Opposition candidates and in a few places even 'fixed' the election result. Again it was with the blessings of the then ruler in Delhi -- Rajiv Gandhi -- who encouraged Farooq to do whatever he could to 'protect the national interest in Kashmir.'

Kashmiris know it though they may not say so, that the poor Election Commission is too good to even smell any of these things, much less cure the malady. Elections have come and gone. This too will go the way the earlier ones have gone. 'National interest is safe in Kashmir.' The 'initiative' taken by the Farooq administration to 'motivate' Kashmiris for rushing to get their voter I-cards shows that the legacy is very much kicking and live. Satyameva Jayate.