New Delhi, July 06: “Supreme Court of India on Thursday directed supply of copies of the writ petition to Union of India and Election Commission seeking restoration of democratic government in J&K and conduct of assembly elections therein without any further delay,” said Advocate Harsh Dev Singh, the National Panthers Party (NPP) president and former minister in J&K.
According to a statement issued by NPP here, the writ petition had been filed in the name of senior NPP leader Mrs. Manju Singh, besides BDC Chairpersons and DDC members of JKNPP by Mr. Harsh Dev Singh.
The statement reads, “Mr. Harsh Dev submitted that the democracy continues to be abused and outraged in J&K by the present rulers behaving as unquestionable despots and running the affairs of the government for the last five years in J&K through their proxies. And when the people press for the restoration of democratic government, the helmsmen either issue a statement assuring early elections or silence the protagonists of democracy through the coercive apparatus of the state. With all this happening for the last five years, democracy continues to be delayed and denied in J&K on one pretext or the other in contravention of the spirit of the constitution and the ‘obiter dicta’ and rulings of the Apex Court of the country.”
Singh averred that the Supreme Court on several occasions has held that Assembly Elections must be held within six months in all those States/UTs where Assemblies are pre-maturely dissolved. He argued that the assembly elections continue to be denied in J&K on “flimsy grounds only to enable the BJP to run the affairs of government in J&K through its chosen ones”.
“J&K has been deprived of democratic government for the last five years. Elections are being delayed and denied and continue to be postponed for one reason or the other,” he said, adding that the question arises whether a democratic government could be denied to the people for long as five years and that too without any justifiable reason
“Elections are said to be the bedrock of democracy. They have been held to be the barometer of democracy by the top court of the country. There can be no democracy without free and periodic elections,” he said.
According to the statement, the case was heard by a three-Judge SC Bench headed by the Chief Justice (CJI) who directed the supply of copies of the writ petition to central agencies i.e. the Union of India and ECI and directed that further hearing on the matter would be held on or after 11th July on which date a Special Bench has been constituted to hear other matters related to the UT of J&K.
