NAMFU SASN MATHI FONGLAKPA JK Congress Doesn’t Want Right To Reject For Kashmir November 4, 2013 Even as moderate Hurriyat Chairman Mrwaiz Umar Farooq mulls the use of Supreme Court granted Right to Reject to enter the electoral arena in the state, State Congress Unit has written to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi cautioning her against the implementation of the provision in the state. The party apprehends that the inclusion of the None of the Above (NOTA) option in Electronic Voting Machines will provide separatists an opportunity to subvert the electoral process in the state and validate their politics. “We think the provision could be misused by the separatists in disturbed areas like Kashmir and North East,” senior Congress leader and the minister for medical education Taj Mohiuddin told TEHELKA. He said the letter to Sonia Gandhi highlights these fears. “We sought her attention to the potential use of the Right to Reject option by the secessionist elements to assert their own political position on the state”. When contacted, the moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the NOTA option presented an “interesting opportunity” to separatists. “I think the Right to Reject merits a serious consideration. We need to deliberate on it,” Mirwaiz told TEHELKA. “If people have the choice to reject the contesting candidates, it gives us and them a chance to tell the world where we stand. We should make use of this opportunity”. In a landmark judgement, Supreme Court in September granted the voters the right to reject all the candidates in the polls. The court directed the Election Commission to provide NOTA option at the end of the list of candidates in EVMs and ballot papers to allow voters to reject those contesting polls. In Kashmir, a section of opinion has latched on to the idea to make a case for separatist participation in electoral process. Secessionist groups in the state including the major Hurriyat factions led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq have strictly abstained from taking part in elections, arguing that the exercise didn’t include the option to opt out of India, nor the choice to reject the exercise itself. But NOTA option, offers as it does the choice to reject the contesting candidates, has presented itself as an opportunity, which some of them are slowly warming to. “We are waiting for the elections to come around and also for the implementation of this provision in J&K.” Mirwaiz said. “I hope they don’t make an exception for J&K. And if they do, this will also be our victory. For this will again expose the sham democratic process in the state to the world”. Though the idea has yet to resonate with people in the state with elections still some distance away, there has been some discussion of the provision and its game-changing potential for Kashmir. “For us, the right to reject can be the best way to extend resistance to the electoral arena,” says Ibn Hussain in his article in a local daily. “A majority None of the Above votes can be deftly converted into a resistance vote. It will be the most violent act that the Indian democracy has faced thus far”. However, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani sees little promise in the option, calling for the boycott of the election in any case. “The polls have no sanctity. We are asking people to completely boycott the polls. People should desist from approaching even the polling booths,” Geelani said. “The rejection button is no option. People should resist in case security agencies force them to vote”. J&K Government, however, has yet to decide on implementing NOTA option in the state in the next year’s Assembly polls. After the Apex Court’s verdict on introduction of NOTA option, the Election Commission of India has issued instructions for Chief Electoral Officers of states and Union Territories to introduce the same during polls to enable voters to exercise their right to not vote for any candidate. However, Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir Umang Narula, admitted that there are some “legal issues” involved so far as the implementation of the NOTA option in J&K is concerned. “J&K is governed by a separate Act. So there are some legal issues. I have to seek the opinion of the Election Commission which so far as I am concerned is the final arbiter in the matter,” Narula told TEHELKA. “We have been told to implement the provision in parliamentary polls. We will know what to do as the Assembly elections come around”.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 18:02:18 +0000
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