Free, fair, transparent elections will be held in J&K, no more Khaliq model: Amit Shah
Free, fair, transparent elections will be held in J&K, no more Khaliq model: Amit Shah
New Delhi: “Free, fair and transparent elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in an interview with the Daily Excelsior.
He added, “there were no reasons for the Centre to delay the elections as they will be conducted by the Election Commission in consultations with security forces.”
The delimitation exercise or redrawing of constituencies is complete. The process for revision of electoral rolls is underway, he said.
In a reference to the Abdullahs, Muftis and Gandhis, the home minister told the J&K-based newspaper “There were 14 Assembly seats in the Kashmir valley which were ‘main families’ seats. These were ‘island seats’ of these families. One part of the seat was here and another part was 14 km away in another village after two seats. I never saw such ‘luxury seats’ in my political career.”
‘BJP will contest J&K polls with full force’
When asked about the BJP’s ‘Mission 50 Plus’, Shah said that the party will contest the elections with full force and it’s up to the people to decide the outcome.
One thing I can “assure is that the elections will be transparent. Elections will not be conducted like the three families did. Who forms Government and which party gets how many seats will be decided by the people. None will decide this sitting in bungalows.”
“Earlier, Khaliq used to make MLAs in Jammu and Kashmir. Now, there will be no Khaliq model in the UT elections but there will be complete transparency in the polls. There was a time when candidates couldn’t file nomination papers without the consent of Khaliq,” he added.
‘Democracy in J&K earlier meant three families’
The home minister told the newspaper that local polls have been held in J&K in a transparent manner and even the Abdullahs couldn’t level any allegation.
“Earlier, democracy in J&K meant three families. 87 MLAs and six MPs. Now, we have 30,000 elected representatives (Panchayat, BDC and DDC members),” he said.
On the new party formed by ex-Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shah said, “everyone has right to contest elections. But it’s good that he (Azad) is now not a part of three families.”
Speaking about the work done by the J&K administration under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Shah said that “under L-G’s leadership, there are no hartals in J&K anymore.”
With inputs from Daily Excelsior
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