Jammu and Kashmir on Monday completed five years under the federal rule without an elected government, prompting a scathing attack from the mainstream National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party over the delay in restoration of democracy in the Union Territory.
Jammu and Kashmir’s last elected government operated in a alliance between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti from 2015 to 2018. The alliance, however, collapsed on June 19, 2018 after the BJP withdrew its support to the PDP-led coalition. On August 5, 2019, the Government of India revoked Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Since then, no assembly election has been held in the new Union Territory. In a tweet, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah today said democracy in India ends where Jammu and Kashmir begins.
Meanwhile, the chorus for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir is growing with all political parties. The BJP has appealed to the Election Commission to announce poll dates. The last assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir were held in 2014.