‘Will Follow What ECI Decides’: J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha On Assembly Polls In Jammu And Kashmir

On abrogation of Article 370, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha said that the era of separatists and terror organisations disrupting life in the Valley has been relegated to pages of history.

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday said that it is entirely up to the Election Commission of India to take a call on holding the Assembly polls in the Union territory after the completion of delimitation of exercise and revision of electoral rolls. "J-K administration will follow what the Election Commission of India decides," he said during an interaction with journalists in Srinagar on Sunday. He also noted that over 32,000 elected representatives of various local bodies are very much part of the decision-making process in the UT.

Sinha said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured in the Parliament that assembly polls will follow the delimitation exercise and that Jammu and Kashmir will also get its statehood at an appropriate time, reported PTI. 

In an apparent jibe at the Opposition parties that have been pushing for the polls, Sinha said that If those who have served in constitutional positions and have been members of Parliament don't understand the constitutional process, then there is no cure to their problems. 

On abrogation of Article 370, which completed four years on August 5 this year, the Lieutenant Governor said that the era of separatists and terror organisations disrupting life in the Valley has been relegated to pages of history and that development and peace have become the buzzword for the last four years. 

"A very big change is the common man is free to live his life on his terms. Nobody's diktats run here any longer," he said.

Asserting that street violence has fully ended, Sinha said that the period when over 150 days in a year were marked by calls of strikes by separatist and militant organisations or by others on Pakistan's prodding has been relegated to history.

On being asked about incidents of ‘targeted killings’ often aimed at migrant labourers and Kashmiri Pandits, Sinha stressed on the overall decline of such attacks. 

While people had earlier reconciled to frequent terror incidents, now the expectation is that there should be no such act under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, he said.

"Such an expectation is natural. We are working to create an atmosphere that no such incident happens," he said even as he noted that "chhitput" (sporadic) incidents do happen at times.