Yawar Hussain
Gupkar Declaration Signatories addressing a joint press conference after meeting at National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah’s residence on Thursday, October 15, 2020. KL Image by Bilal Bahadur
The exit of the People’s Conference has seemingly left the PAGD adrift. The five-party alliance including big players like National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party have not met for nearly two months now.
Seemingly, the PAGD is disinterested in the elections to the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons which they have lost in six out of 13 where they had the mandate when results were declared on December 22 last year. The alliance also hasn’t appointed a new official spokesperson since Sajad Gani Lone left.
J&K DDC Polls: Apni Party Emerges as Essential Lynchpin in Admin-Aided Horse Trading
Omar Abdullah has accused the administration of interfering with the electoral process after the declaration of the DDC results.
Altaf Bukhari with two DDC polls candidates who joined J&K Apni Party in Shopian. Photo: Twitter/@Apnipartyonline
Rights29/Dec/2020
Srinagar: With a winning Congress candidate hitching her wagon to the Altaf Bukhari-led Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP), Shopian is likely to become the second district, after Srinagar, where the Peopleâs Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a grouping of seven regional parties committed to the restoration of Article 370, will not be in control of the newly elected development council.
Tasavur Mushtaq
SRINAGAR: Though politics has nothing to do with horses, but horse-trading has always been an act of politics. Usually witnessed after the assembly election results elsewhere, Kashmir is an exception, this time too.
On Wednesday, following the District Development Council (DDC) election results in which independent candidates emerged as “game changers”, particularly in Kashmir, there are allegations that “force is being used to influence them and buy the loyalty.”
Hitting the right-wing party, its “proxies” and the administration, former two chief ministers have alleged that the “independent candidates are being contacted and coerced to join them.”
An ex-MLC of @JKNC from South Kashmir has been taken away by the police to stop him contacting the independent DDC members elected in his district. At the same time the authorities are taking the trouble to transport some of these independents to Srinagar for “discussions”.