Ahead of polling in Srinagar, political parties in J&K allege harassment of its supporters
Just two days ahead of the Srinagar Lok Sabha election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC) on Saturday accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration of “bias” and “unjust crackdown on party activists”.
Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, the PDP candidate from Srinagar seat, sought the intervention of the Prime Minister’s O¨ce (PMO) and the Union Home Ministry against o¨cials.
According to the PDP, around 50 supporters of the party, including its polling agents, have been arrested.
“Actions of certain o¨cials inuenced by one political party are reminiscent of the mistakes made by the Congress and the National Conference (NC) in 1987. Arrests, harassment, and raids on PDP workers undermine the essence of democracy. We demand free and fair elections. Manipulating elections equals rigging and echoes of the dark days of 1987, killing hopes in democracy. Hope you won’t let anyone derail the process,” said Mr. Parra, who hails from Pulwama.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti accused the administration of imposing Section 144 “in an attempt to target our workers”.
NC president Farooq Abdullah also alleged that the police were “instilling fear among voters”.
“The L-G must stop the harassment of people. The police are calling elders and youth and then telling them they are with Hurriyat
and others,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner, Pulwama, on Saturday said that restrictions imposed under Section 144 in the district have been “mandated under Election Commission of India’s specic SOPs for the last 72 and 48 hours for poll campaigning”.
“The restrictions apply to specic activities related to the campaign, being the silent period. Restrictions relate to only specied points in order and not general restrictions,” the o¨cial said.
The restrictions, according to the order, shall be effective from 6 p.m. on Saturday till polling day on May 13. According to the order, only door-to-door campaigning would be allowed but disallows the use of speakers, and large public rallies.