Jammu, Feb 2: Former Member of Parliament and senior Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das expressed his pessimism on Friday over the BJP-led central government’s ability to organise assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by the end of September. But he asserted that by holding the eagerly anticipated elections in the Union Territory, the government should honour democracy, popular opinion, and the ruling of the Supreme Court. Speaking to media prior to a meeting behind closed doors with the 26-member J&K Pradesh Election committee, Das is the head of the cluster-IV screening committee that recommends party candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.The Supreme Court, which ordered assembly elections to be held before the end of September, democracy, and the goals of the people of Jammu and Kashmir should all be respected by the government led by Narendra Modi. If the government is willing, the election can take place, but I do not think it will. In many locations, they have shown little respect for democracy. However, it would be beneficial if the assembly polls were held here, the Congress leader stated. He was answering a query concerning the party’s setup for the Union Territory assembly elections. The Congress announced the creation of five screening committees last month in order to propose party candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. States and Union territories have been divided into five groups by the party.Nearly the whole northern region of India is covered by the cluster-IV screening committee. After the first round of voting with the Pradesh Congress, we will discuss some technical matters today, such as the alliance partners and how to contest the upcoming lower house election. We want to present our findings to the five-member screening committee that was established specifically for this reason,” he declared. He indicated that to clear up any misunderstandings, a conversation is ongoing with the alliance’s partners. “We don’t have the authority to make decisions. That is beyond of our purview. We support technical work, with a separate committee handling political negotiations and finalising candidates (in collaboration with alliance partners).However, Das stated that “all the alliance partners must move together” and that the INDIA bloc is “very important” for Jammu and Kashmir as well as the nation.
