The Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Friday passed a bill banning inter-district recruitment in the state.
The suspension of four National Conference members had prompted the opposition leaders to boycott the ongoing session of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
Coming down heavily on the People's Democratic Party for creating a ruckus in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Union Minister for Non-Renewable Sources of Energy Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said the PDP does not want any development in the state."The PDP just wants to create chaos. They don''t want any development for Kashmir and do not want to see the people prosper. First they attacked the Speaker and on Tuesday they took on the chief minister," he said.
Gurez constituency in the once terrorist-infested Bandipora district recorded the highest voting -- 74 per cent -- followed by Mendhar and Poonch (73), Surankote (68), Nobra (66) Leh, Kargil and Zanskar (all 60 per cent), Bandipora(57) and Sonawari (46)
"Hurriyat has nothing to do with this meaningless exercise and will ask the people to stay away from it as well," Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the separatist amalgam's moderate faction, said after the Election Commission announced the seven-phased poll schedule for the border state.
While three national parties - Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist and five regional parties--National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party, People Democratic Front and J&K Democratic Party National- won 87 seats together, 750 candidates fielded by 35 outfits lost the hustings, the officials said.
In view of the increasing number of ruthless terror attacks across India and the war rhetoric between India and Pakistan, do you think that democracy, not war, is the only way to answer terrorism? Tell us!
All India Congress Committee General Secretary Prithviraj Chavan, former Chief Minster Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Minister Saiffudin Soz, along with Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony are likely to take part in the deliberations. Congress sources said the election results clearly indicate that National Conference will be in a position to form the government with support of Congress and from some independents.
Two days ahead of the seventh and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly poll, militants on Monday shot dead two Central Reserve Police Force soldiers and fled with their service rifles in Baramulla district. Militants sprayed bullets on constables Inderjeet Singh and S S Budhria from a point blank range in Iqbal Market near the main bus stand in Sopore town, official sources said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday said the name of Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah never figured in the 2006 sex scandal case in which two ministers of the then Peoples Democratic Party regime were arrested.
India on Friday reacted with caution to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's invitation to engage in a comprehensive and sustained dialogue, saying it will depend on circumstances, which have to be considered "thoughtfully".
Talking to rediff.com from Jammu, Abdullah said that this was a remote possibility unless the Congress decides to rig the elections. "The United Progressive Alliance government had assured us that it would hold free and fair elections which is the right of the people. If this is denied to the electorate then the government is going back on its words," he said.
The odds are apparently stacked against Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad when he seeks to prove his majority in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Monday, but the confidence he exudes suggest that his government might just scrape through.
Releasing the party manifesto, which talks of resolution of Kashmir issue on the lines of its "self-rule" formula, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti made it clear that her party was jumping into the poll bandwagon, but wished that the Centre should have initiated a "serious dialogue" with all sections in the Kashmir Valley before holding elections.
The Election Commission has started deliberations with national and regional political parties to finalise the date for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.The Left parties, led by the Communist Party of India, was one of the parties that presented its case before the EC team comprising Chief Election commissioner N S Gopalaswamy, Nawin Chawla and S Y Qureshi.
After bagging double-figure seats in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly for the first time, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said it is ready to play the role of a nationalist opposition and work towards capitalising on its achievements for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
"Yes, if the current trends of leads in 27 seats hold momentum, we will approach the Congress which is a like-minded party. We will approach the Congress to form the government," party President Omar Abdullah said. Asked earlier as to whom the National Conference would like to see as a coalition partner in future government, Omar, 38, said: "Personally, I will prefer to have an alliance with the Congress.
'Kashmiris are very adaptable people. They will wait. From India's point of view, I think we have lost a great opportunity. I don't think we should keep talking to Pakistan. We should talk to the Kashmiris. Ultimately, this matter has to be settled between New Delhi and Srinagar,' says A S Dulat, expert on Kashmir.
'The PDP has all the time stressed that the semblance of peace and normalcy it has brought in the valley must not be taken for granted. There is no substitute for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. The problem is still there,' says the PDP vice president
Polls for assembly constitutencies will begin with the first phase beginning on November 17 and the seventh and last phase of election on December 24.
Barring the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, the Election Commission is gearing up to announce the dates for elections in five other states of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram in the first week of October. Counting will be completed and results announced in these states by December 5 as per a tentative calendar drawn up by the commission.
The Election Commission will announce the schedule of the Assembly elections in five states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram on September 5 or 6, clamping its code of conduct on the political parties and governments from that date.
More than 58.67 per cent voters, an increase of about 10 per cent from 2002 assembly polls, cast their votes in the fourth round of Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls on Sunday, an official spokesman said in Srinagar. It was a jump of more than 10 per cent in the 18 assembly constituencies of the state which went to polls on Sunday over the poll percentage recorded in 2002 assembly elections, he said.
According to top sources, the government is all prepared to lower the prices of diesel, petrol and cooking gas after the polling is over for the last phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on December 24. As the global crude prices have dipped to $55 per barrel now, petroleum ministry officials say even a Rs 2 to Rs 3 per litre cut in diesel prices would bring down inflation 60 to 70 basis points (100 basis points is equal to one percentage point).
The Election Commission is contemplating holding the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in the month of November and then go for the Assembly elections in five other states after a gap of 10 to 15 days.
Defence Minister AK antony said infiltration attempts will be stepped up in the run up to the crucial elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
Pakistan should control terrorism if it wants peace and reconciliation, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed said.
'An expected new treaty between Musharraf and Manmohan Singh in 2007 will not be about Kashmir, so it will not change the ground reality,' says Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin.
Sources said the sudden death of Sayeed leaves the BJP with little choice but to go with his obvious successor.
An independent legislator, Engineer Abdul Rashid on Wednesday said that he will press for the release of all political prisoners and return of the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru in the upcoming budget session of the state assembly.
The Bill shall establish the supremacy of Muslim Personal Law in the State and abolish customary law prevalent in some parts of the state.
Rejecting former Army Chief General V K Singh's denial about claiming payment of cash to ruling politicians in the state, the Jammu and Kashmir legislative council has summon the general to appear in person before its privilege committee on January 9, 2014.
'The decision of August will have to be taken back. This is our resolve. When it will happen, how it will happen, the judge of our case are the people of this country.'
Ten civilians lost their lives while 89 others were injured in firing and shelling by Pakistan along the International Border in Jammu region between January 2014 and February this year.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Odisha and Sikkim will also be held simultaneously, the Election Commission said.
The officials said they had no information other than that Azhar was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure.
Former Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Friday denied having used the word "Hindu terrorism" in Parliament during the UPA tenure.
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