Politics

A day after Apni Party chief lashed out at former CM Ghulam Nabi Azad, the newly appointed Jammu Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief, Vikar Rasool Wani on Monday said that "A" and "B" teams of BJP have started pulling legs of each other. “Anyone who wants to leave Congress can go and those who want to stay are welcome and they will be the pearl for the party,” Wani said while talking to media persons here at the party’s Srinagar headquarters. As per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Wani said that there is no doubt that he was the loyalist of Ghulam Nabi Azad and has always raised Azad's slogans for the past many years. “But, as it was already planned, Azad has never disclosed anything to me about leaving the party, rather he always taught me how to strength t...

JK unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said that no demographic change would be made by special summary revision of voters. “Anyone living in Jammu and Kashmir from two, three or four years has the right to vote here. If leaders from Jammu and Kashmir can contest elections from outside JK, why can’t those living here vote here,” BJP General Secretary (Organization), Ashok Koul while talking to reporters as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) He said that the Chief Election Officer has not made any wrong statement and what he said is the law. “Anyone who will be granted permission to vote here in JK has to remove his name from the previous place,” he said. He further said that there were no motives of demographic change behind the revision of voter list—(KNO)...

Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Monday said they will sit on hunger strike before the Parliament and other constitutional bodies if there is an attempt by the Government to change the electoral demography of Jammu Kashmir. Addressing a news conference here, Lone, as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that they will sit on a hunger-strike in front of the Parliament if the Government makes an attempt to change the demography of J&K. “The law (Representation of The Peoples Act-1951) is not a threat to us but the intentions of the Government are a threat to us,” he said. Lone said they neither accept the clarification issued by the Jammu & Kashmir nor they reject it. “We will wait and watch and if there is an attempt to change the demography of...

After the inclusion of Non-residents in the voter list of Jammu Kashmir, politics in Kashmir is seeing a sudden heat up as the regional groups have criticized the move of the election Commissioner. Earlier the Jammu Kashmir People's Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti said that the move of the Election Commissioner to include non-locals was the last nail in the coffin of electoral politics in Jammu Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti also asked the PAGD president, Dr. Farooq Abdullah to call for an All party's Meet responding to which Farooq Abdullah called a meeting on Dr. Abdullah said that the All Party Meeting will be held at his Gupkar residence on Monday (11:00 AM) to discuss the latest ECI decision. He told the Local news Agency0 KNO that all the parties except Bharatiya Janata Party (B...

Coming down heavily on the ruling BJP, the former Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti Thursday said that the latest ‘diktat’ from Chief Election Officer to allow outsiders to vote in Jammu and Kashmir is the last nail in the coffin of electoral democracy. Mehbooba Mufti was addressing a press conference at her Gupkar-based residence in Kashmir capital Srinagar. Hitting BJP left right and centre, Mehbooba said that Jammu and Kashmir have become a laboratory for BJP. “The new diktat from Chief Election Officer to give voting rights to outsiders will enable BJP’s 25 lakh non-local voters to vote for it. Democracy has been already trampled in Jammu and Kashmir. This Muslim majority state acceded to India keeping in view its democratic and secular credentials but from time to t...

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami on Thursday asked the Central Government to take the people of the country into confidence and explain why assembly elections in Jammu Kashmir are not being held as promised. He said while the polls are not a panacea for all the “ills” of Jammu Kashmir under the present set up of a Union territory, an elected government would provide some respite to the people. “The present government at the Centre has gone hoarse claiming that normalcy has returned to Jammu and Kashmir and that all wrongs have been set right. Then, why are the elections being delayed?” Tarigami, who is also a spokesman of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, told PTI. “The first excuse given was that the delimitation process had to be completed before the polls. They committed ha...

Amid cracks in the coalition, Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar told party MLAs that he is calling off the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Nitish Kumar has sought an appointment with Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan at 4:00 pm to submit his resignation, sources quoted by The Quint said. Reacting to the reports, BJP leader and Union Minister Kaushal Kishore said that the BJP never took any steps to irk Nitish Kumar and would want him to "continue as the chief minister."

Former JK chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday accused the outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind of “fulfilling BJP’s political agenda “. “The outgoing President leaves behind a legacy where the Indian Constitution was trampled upon umpteenth times. Be it scrapping of Article 370, CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) or the unabashed targeting of minorities and Dalits, he fulfilled BJPs political agenda all at the cost of the Indian Constitution,” Ms. Mufti said, in a tweet. Tweeting a fresh circular issued by the Chief Education Officer in central Kashmir’s Budgam, she again criticized the Lieutenant Governor’s administration for asking students to pay for the Tricolour for the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign. “Unfortunately, a lower rung government ...

Several political parties have submitted objections to the deputy commissioner Srinagar regarding proposed location of polling stations in the district by the Delimitation Commission, official sources said here on Friday. Official sources told Kashmir News Service (KNS) that political parties including National Conference, PDP, Congress, Apni Party and others have submitted their objections to the office of deputy commissioner Srinagar regarding proposed locations of polling stations by the Delimitation Commission. They said that the parties have raised the objections based on distance, voter strength and other issues for the proposed location of polling stations in the final order of the Delimitation Commission. Notably, notification was issued by the concerned deputy commissione...