New Delhi:
Former chief minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the Modi government had "consciously disenfranchised" the people in Jammu and Kashmir by not holding the Assembly election on time. "Dear @narendramodi Sahib, it is good to see you appealing to famous people to increase voter turnout however at the same time your government has consciously disenfranchised people in J&K by not holding Assembly elections on time (sic)," Abdullah posted on Twitter.
The former chief minister was referring to Modi's appeal to several personalities to help increase the voter turnout in the general election.
"The right to choose an elected government, as opposed to being governed by a handpicked nominee of the central government, is the hallmark of the sort of democracy you are tweeting about," the NC leader said, appealing to the prime minister to give the people of the state an opportunity to exercise their democratic right by way of holding the Assembly polls.
The EC announced the schedule for Lok Sabha polls to be held in seven phases across the country, including in J-K (five phases), but cited security grounds for not holding the assembly polls simultaneously. In Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, polling will be held in three phases due to security reasons.
Earlier, Omar had said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "surrendered" before Pakistan, militants and separatists by not holding simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
Omar said in 2014, J-K had Lok Sabha elections on time and assembly elections on the schedule even after the most devastating floods, but delaying them now "shows how badly the BJP & earlier the BJP-PDP mishandled J&K”.
"What happened to (Union Home Minister) @rajnathsingh's assurance to Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha as well as to the all party meeting recently in Delhi that all forces would be made available for simultaneous polls,” he asked in another tweet.
The first phase will be held on April 11, second on April 18, third on April 23 and fourth on April 29, fifth on May 6, sixth on May 12 and seventh phase on May 19. Counting of votes for all seven phases would be done on May 23.
