J&K Panthers Party carries family feud to ECI, now to Oppn INDIA conclave in Mumbai

Some visuals of INDIA alliance meet at mumbai today pic.twitter.com/0EFCBrzGUo

— Harsh Dev Singh (@1HarshDevSingh) August 31, 2023

“Any representation or assurance made by Harsh Dev Singh may be considered only in his individual capacity and not as a representative of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party,’’ the letter said. It also claimed that the Election Commission (EC) has been intimated in this regard.

Sources said both Harsh Dev Singh and Vilakshan Singh had approached the EC to get their group recognised as the real JKNPP. While the former claimed that after he returned to the JKNPP from the AAP, he had been elected JKNPP president on April 2, replacing Vilakshan, the latter said he was elected president on June 19, 2022, by the party working committee meeting, held under the chairmanship of Jay Mala Singh, the wife of Bhim Singh, till March 2023, and that this was extended by two years at a fresh working committee meeting on April 14.

The EC has sought a reply from both sides before September 8.

Harsh Dev Singh and MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia — another nephew of Bhim Singh — had left the JKNPP to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) while Bhim Singh was alive. After the party’s founder-president died on May 31, 2022, the JKNPP split into two groups, headed by Vilakshan Singh and P K Ganjoo.

Ganjoo, an old associate and confidant of Bhim Singh, claimed to have been elected president by the working committee of his faction in June 2022, while Vilakshan said he was elected president of his faction on June 19, 2022. Both factions claimed to have most of the working committee members of the undivided party on their side.

The problem started when Harsh Dev resigned from the AAP in February 2023 and claimed to have returned to the JKNPP, saying he wanted to revive it.