J&K: Congress, NC, PDP unlikely to contest BDC polls

The NC, PDP and CPI(M) had already expressed reservations over participating in BDC polls.

The Congress’s decision to stay away from the polls was taken by the high command after a review of the situation during a meeting in Delhi, sources said. The state Congress is likely to make an announcement on Wednesday.

When contacted, party spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said there was “rethinking” in view of the continued detention of senior leaders and workers in the Valley.

The U-turn by the Congress came a day before the last date for filing of nomination by candidates. “We will issue a corrigendum asking the Election Commission to treat as independents all those having filed nomination papers as Congress candidates,’’ said a senior party leader.

About participating in the polls, NC provincial president Devender Rana said, “How can we?” Rana had last week led a 15-member delegation from Jammu to meet party leaders Farooq and Omar Abdullah, who are under detention in Srinagar. “No decision can be taken in the absence of leadership,” he said.

He added, “For any political activity or process to start, the political environment has to be conducive for such participation. In the present scenario, the said political activity due to a lockdown and communication breakdown is not possible.”

Sources in the PDP, too, said there has been no discussion on poll participation. “It was impossible to discuss BDC elections as the party leadership has been inaccessible due to restrictions and lockdown,” said PDP’s former legislator Firdous Tak.

CPI(M) leader Sham Kesar expressed surprise over the decision to hold BDC elections on party basis when most mainstream political leaders and workers are under detention.

The election schedule for BDCs was announced by State Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar last month. Polling hours would be from 9 am to 1 pm and results would be announced the same day, he had said.