Srinagar, Mar 14 (KNS): Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Thursday decided not to meet the ECI observers’ team currently on a visit to Srinagar saying the party has already conveyed its stand to ECI team headed by Chief Election Commissioner earlier and that there is no need to meet the ECI team again.
In a statement issued to KNS, Party General Secretary Haji Ali Mohammad Sagar said “What is the need of meeting the ECI observers’ team again? We have already made our stand clear on Assembly elections in the state. Our stand remains the same which means conducting simultaneous Assembly, Lok Sabha elections in the state,” adding, “We have nothing more to add and there is no change on ground since we met the ECI team earlier. Hence we have decided not to meet the visiting ECI observers’ team.”
He further added, “Postponement of assembly polls can have serious ramifications across the state. The ones who took this incoherent decision must be up to some mischief otherwise there is no sound reason for not conducting both assembly and LS elections together. If the situation is conducive for parliament elections, what stops them from conducting assembly elections at the same time?”
“I fail to comprehend the yardstick that has been employed by ECI in not announcing both elections together. Why same principle was not employed at the time of ULB and Panchayat elections?” he said.
“The powers that be are up to something which will create more fissures in a sensitive state like J&K. Handpicking any individual undemocratically will inadvertently create ruckus in the state and will prove detrimental to the interests of the state and the country at large,” he said.
While asserting that the people of state are awake to the machinations of the forces as are inimical to state’s identity and integrity, he said, “GoI want someone who would work on the whims and fancies of BJP leadership. However we will not let them succeed in this mission. It is with this belief that we expected a positive outcome of our meetings with ECI team earlier,” adding, “Any misadventure in J&K by those who are holding the reigns of country will seriously undermine the greater good of the nation. People of the state are awake to what they have been doing all along and they will unravel their nefarious designs and give them a befitting reply in the forthcoming general elections.” (KNS)