EC to examine whether model code can be imposed in J& K immediately
Jammu, Nov 21:
J&K governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday dissolved the state legislative assembly. The move came within an hour of rivals Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP and Sajad Lone’s Peoples Conference moving separately to stake claim to form government in the state. Earlier today, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti wrote a letter staking claim to government formation with the support of Congress and National Conference (NC). Claiming that the governor was unreachable she tweeted the letter. Almost around the same time, Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone also wrote a letter to the governor and claimed the support of sufficient MLAs to form a government in the state. He sent the letter on WhatsApp to the governor’s PA and sought his confirmation. In a letter to governor Malik, Mufti said that Congress and National Conference (NC) had decided to back her party and claimed the support of 56 MLAs. “You might have gathered from the media reports that the Congress and National Conference have also decided to extend support to our party and National Conference have also decided to extend support to our party to form a government in the state,” Mufti wrote. Mufti tweeted the letter and claimed that the governor has been unreachable despite efforts from her end to contact. Minutes later, Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone too staked claim to form government. In a letter sent to the governor’s PA on WhatsApp, lone said that he has the support of BJP and 18 other MLAs. “We have sent a letter to His Excellency the Governor staking our claim to form the government. Fax not working. We have whatsapped it to the PA to his excellency. @jandkgovernor (sic),” he tweeted. As both the PDP and Peoples Conference failed to contact the governor, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah took a dig at Raj Bhavan. “J&K Raj Bhavan needs a new fax machine urgently,” he tweeted. Abdullah further said that though his party has been demanding a dissolution of the assembly for the past five months, the governor dissolved it as soon as PDP moved to stake claim to form a government. “JKNC has been pressing for assembly dissolution for 5 months now. It can’t be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba letter staking claim the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Election Commission will examine whether the model code of conduct can be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir even before fresh elections are announced there, a senior official said Wednesday after the governor dissolved the state assembly. The poll panel had recently decided that in states where assemblies are dissolved prematurely, the model code will come into force immediately. The poll code, which bars the caretaker government and the party in power from taking policy decisions, otherwise comes into force the day polls are announced by the EC.
Telangana was the first state where the model code of conduct had come into effect before the assembly polls were announced.
“Model code was imposed there (Telangana) as the elected government had dissolved the assembly. Here (Jammu and Kashmir), the case is different. Here the assembly could have been dissolved out of compulsion… There was no government … We will examine in the coming days whether the model code can be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, too,” the functionary explained,.
In a sudden development, the Jammu and Kashmir governor tonight dissolved the state assembly, which has been in suspended animation, shortly after rival alliances staked claim to form the government.
Governor’s rule was clamped in Jammu and Kashmir on June 19 for a six-month period following the collapse of the PDP-BJP coalition government after the saffron party withdrew support.
The state assembly was also kept in suspended animation so that political parties could explore the possibility of forming a new government.
