After NC, now PDP says it will boycott local body polls

SRINAGAR: It was felt that any attempt to impose any electoral exercise in the current atmosphere of fear and apprehension would seriously erode the credibility of institutions and its process. It would defeat its very purpose MEHBOOBA MUFTI, former J&K CM

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will boycott the municipal and panchayat elections, schedluled to be held from October, party chief Mehbooba Mufti said on Monday, citing an “atmosphere of fear” due to the “assault on the special constitutional position” of Jammu and Kashmir.

The decision comes days after the National Conference said it too would boycott the local body polls.

Soon after a meeting with top PDP leaders at her residence in Srinagar, the former chief minister said that the linking of the local body elections with the Article 35A case in the Supreme Court “has created serious apprehensions in the minds of people who genuinely see it as assault on the special constitutional position of the state.”

“It was felt that any attempt to impose any electoral exercise in the current atmosphere of fear and apprehension would seriously erode the credibility of institutions and its process. It would defeat the very purpose of it,” she said.

Article 35A empowers the Jammu and Kashmir’s legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state. A petition in the Supreme Court has questioned the validity of the article. Hearing in the case was adjourned to January 2019 after the state had pleaded for the hearing to be deferred till the panchayat elections were conducted.

Announcing the decision to boycott the elections, Mufti asked the administration to review its decision to hold polls at this juncture.

The municipal and panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir are set to be held from October 1 till the first week of November.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Altaf Thakur said both the PDP and the NC are running away from the election process which was there for strengthening democracy. The BJP will take part in these elections, he added.

On the other hand, the Congress would be meeting on Wednesday to take decision on the same.