Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Tuesday said JK Governor Satyapal Malik’s recent remark favoring a particular individual for the post of Mayor of Srinagar is shocking and puts a big question mark on the impartiality of the governor’s office.
In a joint statement released from party head quarters Nawa –e- Subah, Senior leader and MLA Eidgah Mubarak Gul, Women’s Wing President Shameema Firdous, Central Secretary Irfan Shah, Provincial Vice President Muhammad Syed Akhoon and District President Srinagar Peer Afaq Ahmad said the ongoing election process is a smokescreen to hide the machinations of the governor’s office to throttle the democratic institutions in the state.
In a statement, the leaders said that the party wasn’t against any person becoming the mayor. “but the way governor has unequivocally expressed his intentions, while talking to a private news channel, by hinting towards a particular individual before-hand for mayor’s post of Srinagar is what casts a shadow on the whole election process.”
The leaders said that the councilors elected from various wards exercise their democratic right and elect a mayor after following the whole process as enshrined in the rule books.
“There is already a big question mark on the fairness of ongoing ULB elections in the valley. Adding to the confusion, governor’s remarks reveal that he has no reverence for the due process of elections.”
They said the ongoing process has already gone “farcical and proven to be a damp squib” because of scant participation of people in its first phase in the valley and the sparse number of candidates contesting the polls.