The ECI also justified the exercise and said Aadhaar wasn’t a “proof of citizenship”.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi questioned Dwivedi over the exclusion of Aadhaar card in the SIR drive in Bihar and said the ECI had nothing to do with citizenship of a person and it was the Ministry of Home Affairs’ domain.

Dwivedi responded while referring to Article 326 of the Constitution and said every voter has to be an Indian citizen and “Aadhaar card is not proof of citizenship”.

Justice Dhulia said, “If you are to check citizenship under SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, then you should have acted early; it is a bit late.”

The bench, in the meantime, rejected the submission of the petitioners’ counsel that the ECI did not have power to conduct any such exercise in Bihar for it was mandated under the Constitution and the last such exercise happened in 2003.

While referring to the petitioners’ contentions, the bench said the ECI had to answer three questions as the SIR exercise in Bihar went to “root of democracy and power to vote”.

The questions of the petitioners, including political parties and their leaders aside from civil society members and organisations, deal with the ECI’s power to conduct such an exercise and its timing.

Dwivedi said with passage of time, electoral rolls need to be revised to look into inclusion or exclusion of voter names with the SIR being the one exercise to do it.

He asked if the ECI did not have the power to revise the electoral roll then who did.

The poll panel, however, assured the top court of not leaving out anyone from the voter list without an opportunity to be heard.

Earlier in the day, the top court commenced hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission’s decision to undertake a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for one of the petitioners, said the revision of electoral rolls can be permitted under the Representation of People Act.

The entire SIR will cover around 7.9 crore citizens, he said, and even the voter ID and Aadhaar cards are not being considered.

Over 10 petitions have been filed in the SC, including one by NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’, the lead petitioner.

RJD MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress’ K C Venugopal, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI leader D Raja, Samajwadi Party’s Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, JMM’s Sarfraz Ahmed and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have also moved the top court, seeking direction for quashing the EC order.

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As votes were counted for the assembly elections in the two states, it was time for celebration in the BJP with the party poised to win 125 of the 149 seats it contested in the powerhouse state of Maharashtra. Together with its partners Shiv Sena and NCP, the ruling Mahayuti alliance could win 219 of the 288 seats in the state, leaving the Congress-Shiv Sena(UBT)-NCP(SP) tie-up with just 51 seats.

As the opposition reeled under the impact of the decisive mandate against it in Maharashtra, Jharkhand offered some consolation with voters in both states going for continuity rather than change.

In the 81-seat Jharkhand assembly, the BJP was ahead in 27 seats, while the Chief Minister Hemant Soren-led JMM was leading in 30 seats, the Congress in 14, the RJD in four and the CPI-ML in one, according to the Election Commission website.

“We are going to get the reward for the work we did… and also for the manner in which we remained connected to the public. What can be seen in trends, we can say that we are going to form the govt again and the fulfil the promises we made,” Congress leader Rajesh Thakur told PTI Videos as the INDIA bloc neared victory in Jharkhand.

“I thank everybody for this victory. We have such a big victory because of the work Mahayuti did. Very grateful,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told reporters while his alliance colleagues attributed the stunning win to welfare schemes such as the Laadli Behna scheme.

His son and Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde said the mandate shows who is taking Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideals forward, pointing to the fractured legacy of the Shiv Sena founder whose son Uddhav heads the Shiv Sena (UBT).

As the Mahayuti walked the road towards power in a result that went ahead of what exit polls had predicted, on the other side of the spectrum was Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut who alleged that there was a “big conspiracy” and something was “fishy”.

“I see a big conspiracy in this…This is not a mandate of Marathi ‘manoos’ and farmers. We do not accept this as people’s mandate,” he said.

Adding that there was little doubt in his mind that money was used in the polls, Raut said, “How can all MLAs of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde win? How can Ajit Pawar, whose betrayal angered Maharashtra, win?”

Voters in the politically significant western state, which sends 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha and gave the MVA a decisive 30 seats, clearly decided to go against the trend of that parliamentary victory just five months ago.

Their mandate gives a fillip for the BJP, which won an unprecedented hat-trick in Haryana last month, and helps the party overcome some of its reverses in the general elections where it bagged just 240 seats.

The Maharashtra verdict — which gives primacy to the BJP within the Mahayuti alliance and opens up the possibility of a shift in power with Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister again – was the stuff of sober introspection too for the Congress and Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar.

The BJP was ahead in 125 seats, close to the halfway mark of 144 on its own, while the Shiv Sena had leads in 56 and the NCP in 35. In contrast, the Congress was ahead in just 21, the Shiv Sena(UBT) in 17 and the NCP(SP) in 13.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde and his deputies Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were leading in their respective assembly constituencies. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole was leading narrowly from Sakoli constituency and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and sitting MLA Aaditya Thackeray was leading in Worli assembly seat.

BJP MLC Darekar said, “Based on the current trends, I believe the BJP will be the single largest party and Devendra Fadnavis should become the chief minister.”

The Congress, for which Priyanka Gandhi’s win the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll is the proverbial silver lining in a dark cloud, counted its reverses in Maharashtra. Its legislature party leader and former minister Balasaheb Thorat was trailing in Sangamner as was senior Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in the Karad South assembly seat.

“It’s devastating, heartbreaking for us … The BJP is leading due to the amazing ground work they must’ve done and seat distribution,” Congress spokesperson Lavanya Ballal told deKoder.

In the ruling Mahayuti alliance, the BJP contested 149 assembly seats, the Shiv Sena 81 seats, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in 59 constituencies. In the MVA combine, the Congress fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena(UBT) 95 and the NCP(SP) 86.

The results will decide the electoral fate of 1,211 candidates in Jharkhand, including Soren, his wife Kalpana from Gandey, former CM and BJP state president Babulal Marandi from Dhanwar and ex-CM Champai Soren from Seraikela.

Other prominent candidates include Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato of the JMM from Nala, Deepika Pandey Singh of Congress from Mahagama, Sita Soren (sister-in-law of CM Hemant Soren) from Jamtara, AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto from Silli.

The post BJP-led Mahayuti sweeps Maharashtra, oppn INDIA to bag Jharkhand appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

The post J-K assembly elections 2024: Who are the winning candidates? appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

She said, the party’s senior leadership will take a call on extending support to a secular front after the results are declared.

“Unnecessary speculations. Let me put the record straight. PDPs senior leadership will take a call on extending support to a secular front only once the results are out. This is our official stand,” Iltija wrote on her official X-handle.

Unnecessary speculations. Let me put the record straight. PDPs senior leadership will take a call on extending support to a secular front only once the results are out. This is our official stand.

— Iltija Mufti (@IltijaMufti_) October 7, 2024

Earlier, JKNC chief and former chief minister of the erstwhile state, Dr Farooq Abdullah had welcomed the reports of Mehbooba Mufti extending support to his party to form a government.

The post ‘Unnecessary speculations’: Iltija Mufti on PDP extending support to NC appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

Amid the buzz, two men with moist eyes caught everyone’s attention at polling station in Brath Kalan area.

After they registered their vote,  they made an appeal to their sons who they said have joined militant ranks, to return home.

For Ghulam Hassan Mir, whose son Omar has joined militancy few years ago, voting is an opportunity to get what people can’t achieve through guns and grenades.

“I urge my son Omar to return home and live a peaceful life with us. Picking up arms won’t yield anything for us. For the past 30 years, guns have taken lives and shattered the dreams of many fathers and mothers,” Mir said as tears roll down on his cheeks.

“I know he will read my words in newspapers or listen to social media. I know his heart would melt. I know he will cry also. But I don’t know whether that would make him to return to his parents again,” said sobbing Mir.

“If peace becomes a permanent feature here, nobody’s son would pick up arms,” Mir said, adding that there may have been reasons for his son to join militancy but things seem to get in place now, he said as per news agency NVI.

“I request my son to take over the family business of apples and live a peaceful life,” Mir said.

Mir was accompanied by another man, Muhammad Hamzah. Hamzah’s son, Bilal too has joined the militant ranks.

“If my vote brings my son back, I will never miss this opportunity. I will vote again and again. I urge my son Bilal to return to his home. His parents are waiting desperately for his return. We don’t want to shoulder his coffin. We want to see him getting married,” said Hamzah.

He said, “no father would die peacefully after shouldering the coffin of his young son. So I make a hand folded appeal to my son Bilal to listen to my words and return home.”

The post In Sopore’s Brath Kalan, a vote and an appeal; fathers ask militant sons to shun gun appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

He targetted the Congress, the National Conference, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), MP Engineer Rashid, and Sajad Lone of the People’s Conference stating that they wanted to take J&K back to 1947, instead of 2047.

“There is a fight between BJP, which talks of J&K of 2047 and on the other side, there are Gandhis, Abdullahs, Muftis, (Sajad) Lone and a new fellow Engineer Rashid, who wanted to take J&K back to 1947. Defeat this ideology as we all want to see J&K peaceful and progressive and not regressive,” he said.

“In 2014, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sought votes with a promise to form a government. You (people) supported and ensured the inclusion of ten Jammu MLAs in the state cabinet. This time the party wanted not just ten ministers but the entire cabinet from the Jammu region; hence we are seeking your overwhelming support to Modiji by ensuring the victory of all party candidates,” Madhav exhorted an enthusiastic crowd at Nagrota.

Madhav was addressing the gathering after party candidate and senior BJP leader Devender Rana filed a nomination this afternoon.

Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Jugal Kishore Sharma also accompanied Rana, besides Madhav, in the Office of the Returning Officer, Nagrota.

“People should not forget that BJP, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister, brought J&K out of the vortex of violence and miseries, following the abrogation of Article 370. This election is very important to make J&K among three top developed states of “Viksit Bharat”,” Madhav said.

The post ‘Assembly elections to fully realise PM’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ vision’ appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

In the previous elections, the political map of J&K was restricted to few national and regional political parties such as J&K National Conference (NC), J&K Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Congress and the BJP. Though, for the first time, a number of regional political parties are entering into the contest and each of them desiring to capture its proportion of the population electorate.

The political transformation has taken place after the passing of J&K Reorganisation Act of 2019 that has divided the state into two union territories and has forced traditional political parties to re-strategise there approache while at the same time giving birth to new political dynamics. These are parties that have emerged in recent decades and are in the process of trying to make use of the regional sentiment and smaller constituencies which may feel left out by the major parties.

To the list of challenges characteristic for this election, one can add the increasing role of independent candidates. These people, most of whom have no experience in partisan politics. It has reached an alarming stage where several organisations that have been declared subversive and unlawful, resulting to their being not allowed to register and operate as political parties, are now presenting their candidates as independent candidates. This is a very risky strategy that could change the tone of the entire election, since such organisations possess a large pool of supporters in the relevant regions.

However, one of the major events observed in this election is the coalition of the Congress and the National Conference. In the past Congess has always had a support base in Jammu and Kashmir. This time they have woken up and have aligned their selves, at least on paper, supposedly to put up a strong united fight against their main adversaries, the BJP.

The formation of the Congress-National Conference alliance is being seen as a strategic blow, aimed at consolidating the anti-establishment vote and ensuring that it thereby does not get split several ways. Together they might present a formidable force to their competitors and more so in the Kashmir Valley which has been a stronghold for both political outfits.

On the other end of the political spectrum the BJP and the PDP are both opting out of alliance and will contest the election singly. The main opposing player in the Indian political arena is the BJP which is eyeing to firmly establish in Jammu and to penetrate into the valley of Kashmir. In the 2019 elections the party secured several seats in the region of Jammu but failed to do well in the region of Kashmir.

The PDP, with the downfall of its coalition with BJP in 2018, has had a difficult time in trying to find its ground. Nevertheless it still has its vote bank in the Kashmir valley. The PDP now seems to think that there is a way it pulls a rabbit out of the hat and makes much of the votes it would have lost to either the BJP or the Congress-NC alliance.

Another impressive factor that is reflected through the scenario of this election is that the banned organisation are also running this election and their candidates are also in the race in the capacity of independent candidates. Such groups which according to the government were involved in anti-state activities have been in the region though not legally recognised. It remains their prerogative to engage themselves in an electoral process, a factor that can boost the entire process and probably shift the course of the election.

Though these candidates may not subscribe to any of the formal political parties they, for most part, have very strong support within their respective local areas.

The central question on everyone’s mind is: Who will be victorious in this election? More and more entrants emerge into the market making the task of predicting the outcome even more complex than ever. The increasing number of political parties, independent candidates and alliances dilute the electorate’s voting pool and it becomes hard to predict the distribution of the votes.

This is due to the fact that the NC and the PDP have long been the premier parties in the Kashmir Valley with the BJP commanding large support in the Jammu region. However, due to Congress-NC alliance and BJP-PDP division, it is envisaged that the voter would be more polarised as compared to previous elections. Furthermore, independent candidates and banned organisations want to compete for votes.

Lastly, the outcome will hinge on which of the two factions shall have had a better strategy in the mobilisation of its supporters and the attraction of the rest of the vote. Issues such as; unemployment, development, and political stability are going to be paramount in influencing the minds of the populace if they will or will not vote as expected. However, one of the variables that will be of great significance in influencing the results is the involvement of the electorate, especially in terms of voter turnout.

Another relevant question has to do with the fact as to whether the people of Jammu and Kashmir would come out in large numbers, to exercise their electoral franchise. Earlier, the voter turnout in the Kashmir Valley has been much less as people have been afraid of adverse elements, due to political unawareness and call for boycott by the separatist parties. Yet, this election may likely have a higher turn out especially if the people believe that the politicians in the two parties are responsive to voters’ concerns.

The party manifestos of the major political parties will also be important in influencing the electorate’s voting behaviour.  If the political parties are able to present an attractive vision of what the future holds for Jammu and Kashmir particularly concerning the issues of development, youth unemployment, the problems concerning decentralisation of power and other political questions, then the electorate may just respond.

Dr. Firdous Ahmad Malik, Assistant Professor of Economics, Department of Management.

University of People, Pasadena, California, United States.

Owais Ismaeil, Doctoral Fellow, Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, University of Delhi.

The post J&K Elections: An unprecedented Shift appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

“Kashmiris are remarkable for valuing emotions more than anything else; they have been fed on emotions, they live their life through its landscape, and they bury themselves with it.” In a fit of anger, a statement came from nowhere. What a tragedy the person thought; his own life, seeing from the summit, has been one big emotional tapestry itself.  He gives less weight to logic and more to feelings. It scares him to think how much he has suffered owing to this game of playing emotionally: too naïve to think through the possible scams, he once deposited money to some unknown bank in hopes of finding it triple, only to find he had trusted something that turned out to be a blatant lie. Money gone and expectations torn apart.

“Do emotions contribute to making a not-so-efficient leader? Do feelings apply in this domain as well?” A person asks this question to himself in wonder abandon. He’s now reflecting on occasions when people turned hysterically mad supporting a leader, leading to verbal clashes or otherwise between two different political parties. He’s immersed in the words that his neighbour once said to him: “I have chosen this leader; for once, a decade ago, he proposed such and such a thing, and ‘I have failed to account for what he has been doing ever since.’”

Emotions attached to one goddamn thing, and rationality either dies or takes a back seat.

Realising this to be a grave situation and something that needs to be changed, the person asks nowhere, “I got it; what should be done to atone for whatever we have incurred out of our naivety?” “Mental exercise,” came the reply, and voices from nowhere stopped coming.  Mental exercise…hmmm. We should be able to check the history of a leader we are choosing in minute detail: the mistakes he made and the measures he took to rectify them; the difference between what he said during elections and after it; whether he stood by the destitute or not; was accountability given a priority in his previous tenure or not…

Emotions leave us handicapped; let’s apply our mental exercise to would-be leaders galore, popping up here and there, and check how far our analysis could go. These stood the final remarks of the person before disappearing into thin air. A piece of advice at best.

The post Emotions and Elections appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

Afzal Guru was hanged in 2013 after being convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack. Ajaz told media that he will not seek votes in Afzal’s name.

“I believe that the people of Kashmir were betrayed by every political leader, some in the name of autonomy, self rule, and some in the name of ‘Azadi’. Everybody betrayed the people of Kashmir,” he said.

The post Afzal Guru’s brother to contest elections appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

The meeting focused on ensuring the district’s readiness for the upcoming elections, with a particular emphasis on the arrangements for disabled voters and other essential parameters to ensure smooth electoral conduct.

The General Observer reviewed critical arrangements, including the deployment of polling staff, training sessions for election officials, and the proper handling of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Returning Officers 52- Doda and 53- Doda West provided a detailed brief on the current preparations, highlighting special measures like accessible polling stations, reserved seating, and transport facilities to assist disabled voters in casting their votes with ease.

Additionally, both officers underscored the importance of adhering to the Model Code of Conduct and maintaining law and order throughout the election process. Discussions also covered contingency plans, voter awareness campaigns under the SVEEP program, and security strategies, especially in sensitive areas.

The General Observer commended the district administration for its efforts and stressed the need to uphold electoral integrity while ensuring inclusive environment for all voters.

Further meetings and field visits are scheduled to monitor the progress of polling stations preparations and address any emerging challenges. The meeting was attended by key Nodal officers and election staff, marking an essential step in finalizing the district election plans.

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