"Der Aaye, Durust Aaye": Omar Abdullah Welcomes Election Commission's Announcement for Jammu and Kashmir Polls

The Election Commission has announced the date for elections in Jammu and Kashmir today. The Election Commission said that elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir in 3 phases. It further said that the first phase will be on 18 September, the second phase on 25 September and the third and final phase on 1 October. At the same time, the results will be released on 4 October. On this, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said, ‘'Der aaye durust aaye (better late than never)’.

Omar Abdullah further said that the Election Commission has announced elections in Jammu and Kashmir some time ago. The people of Jammu and Kashmir were waiting for this. There was no democratic government there since 2018. They have come late, but finally it is happening. The elections will be held in three phases and the program will end soon. For the first time since 1987, elections will be held in such few phases in the state.

Abdullah further said, “This will be a new experience for political parties. We are ready and we will start our preparations now. We have seen the letter sent to the Election Commission, which mentions the transfers that took place in the last 12 hours just before the announcement. The Election Commission should look into these transfers and those that are not under the guidelines should be talked about. The security of our leaders that was withdrawn should be given back. I do not want to contest the elections, but there is a lot of pressure on me from the party to contest.”

He further said that he will decide in the next few days. “My father is ill and he said that if I do not contest, he will have to contest. We had kept the doors open for the PDP but it seems that they have closed the doors. They did not help the Congress in the parliamentary elections. The decision of alliance will be taken by the party and Dr. Farooq Abdullah”, Omar Abdullah added.