Amid the growing demand of different political parties to conduct maiden assembly elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Congress on Saturday demanded that statehood must be restored before holding polls in UT.
"We have been demanding that the statehood should be restored to Jammu and Kashmir. We are still raising this demand", Rajni Patil, Rajya Sabha member and AICC incharge of J&K, told media persons at Jammu on Saturday.
"Union Home Ministry Amit Shah has assured on the floor of the Rajya Sabha to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir", she said and asked the Union Government to fulfill its commitment to giving back statehood to J&K.
"We are of the opinion that assembly elections in J&K will be held after the restoration of statehood", she said and argued that Union Government should grant statehood to J&K before announcing assembly polls.
Rajni Patil, however, asserted that Congress is ready for assembly elections at any time in J&K. She said that the defeat of the BJP in Himachal Pradesh is the beginning of the downfall of the Saffron Party.
Notably, the Union Government has repeatedly mentioned that statehood to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir would be granted at an "appropriate time"
Recently, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai said that decision to grant statehood to J&K would be taken at an appropriate time.
After the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
During his visit to Jammu and Kashmir in October 2021 the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah had reiterated that the assembly elections will be held in the union territory after delimitation and restoration of statehood will follow.
Shah said he has made a promise in Parliament that the statehood of J&K would be restored and it would be done after the assembly elections.
AAP holds massive protest, demands assembly elections in J&K
Former Minister and senior AAP leader, Harsh Dev Singh has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of working under the tutelage of the BJP by denying elections and allowing the proxy rule of the BJP to continue in the troubled territory of J&K.
He said that the ECI was holding elections in other states without uttering a single word about J&K elections which are being denied for the last four years since 2018 and which may never be held as long as BJP remained in power at the Centre.
"So much so that even the post of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has been kept vacant for the last several months after the posting of Hirdesh Kumar as Deputy Election Commissioner in New Delhi. And while the date of publication of final electoral rolls was advanced from October 25 to November 25, not a word was being said about the restoration of democratic government in J&K which continued to reel under the despotic, authoritarian rule of BJP for the last over four years", he said.
Singh was addressing the media persons after a protest held by hundreds of activists of the Aam Aadmi Party outside Nirvachan Bhawan Jammu here today.
