Nasir Aslam Wani, advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, said on Thursday that organizing assembly by-elections for Budgam and Nagrota seats is “not a matter of demand”, but a constitutional right, and questioned why both seats have been vacated.
Talking to ANI, “This is not a matter of demand, it is our right. Our spokesperson also quoted our party president, who said that elections in other states were announced within six months, so why not here? The question is that both these seats were not kept vacant. They should not be filled. If the government’s policy should not work together, then there should be no dual standards.”
Budgam in Kashmir and Nagrota in Jammu were due to by -elections. The Budgam seat was vacant in November after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the Genderbel seat. The Nagrota seat was left vacant after the death of BJP MLA Devendra Singh Rana.
However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has not announced any date for the by -elections in these two Rajya Sabha seats.
Wani’s commentary came against the ECI’s background, which was announcing Bipol results for five seats in four states, Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal earlier this week.
In those by -elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinmool Congress (TMC), and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to maintain their respective seats. However, the ruling left the Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, suffered a setback after losing the seat of Nilambur Assembly.
The by-elections were held in Kaliganj assembly constituency of West Bengal, Kadhi and world-class seats in Gujarat, Neelambur in Kerala and Ludhiana in Punjab.
Separately, Wani also spoke about the growing relationship between Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Referring to a visit by the 30-member delegation of Kargil of Kashmir Travel Agents Association, he highlighted the efforts to strengthen tourism and cooperation in the region.
“Our relationship with Leh and Ladakh will be strengthened. When we worry about promoting tourism in our area, we try to promote tourism in Kargil. It’s a big thing. You can guess that we can guess that we have no vested interests. The primary interest has the development of tourism in the region”, he told ANI. (AI)