Srinagar, 05 October (H.S.): National Conference Member of Parliament from Srinagar Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi today said the statehood resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was a dilution of earlier resolutions and amounted to a betrayal of the mandate given by the people.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, the MP said the laws passed by the BJP-led Government at the Centre need to be reformed, but alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Government had failed to create an environment for wider engagement and dialogue on these issues.

The resolution that was passed in the Assembly in 2000 and the one that was recently passed in 2024 were enough to present our stand, he said, adding that the Government should have explained what follow-up action had been taken on the earlier resolutions.

Ruhullah said the latest resolution should not have been introduced by stepping down from the earlier resolutions, alleging that the move had diluted the political agenda on which the Government secured the people's mandate. In my opinion, this is a very big mistake. And I think it is a betrayal with this mandate, he said.

On the Election Commission of India, Ruhullah said Election Chief Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar should not merely resign but face an inquiry, including a judicial inquiry, over alleged violations and manipulation of the electoral process.

He alleged that Form 6 and Form 7 of the electoral process had been misused and claimed that Muslims had been targeted through voter deletions. He also alleged that objections raised by other Election Commission officials over violations of laws, norms and the Constitution had not been addressed.

Ruhullah said changes in voter lists and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had resulted in around 13 crore voters being disenfranchised, calling for a criminal inquiry into the matter.

Resigning one of his people will not fix the damage, he said, adding that elections already held should be revisited through an appropriate mechanism.

He also called for the SIR to be stopped until institutional corrections were made in the Election Commission.

Referring to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's remarks on revisiting elections and dissolving state assemblies, Ruhullah said there was nothing wrong with the demand, arguing that elections should be revisited because of alleged failures of the Election Commission.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar