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B.K. Nehru: 1997
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"From 1953 to 1975, Chief Ministers of that State [of J&K] had been nominees of Delhi. Their appointment to that post was legitimised by the holding of farcical and totally rigged elections in which the Congress party led by Delhi's nominee was elected by huge majorities." B.K. Nehru, who was Governor of Kashmir from 1981 to 1984, in his memoirs published in 1997.
- Nice Guys Finish Second; pp. 614-5.
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There have been widespread charges of election-rigging in Kashmir which have plagued all the elections from 1951 till date. Though it is true that election-rigging is not specific to the State of J&K and has taken place in elections elsewhere in India, it becomes necessary to analyze elections in Kashmir, given the fact that the Indian State continues to argue that such elections are a substitute for the promised plebiscite.
It is noteworthy that Mr. B.K. Nehru, former Governor of J&K has acknowledged publicly that elections in Kashmir have indeed been rigged in the past.
In 1978, Prem Nath Bazaz, a prominent Hindu Kashmiri journalist and activist
summarized the political
process in Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) as follows: "After independence, rulers
of J&K State were not the freely chosen representatives of the people as
they should have been but were the nominees and the proteges of the Central
Congress Government. Whether they were the leaders of the National Conference as
in the early years (1947-53) and during 1975-77, or belonged to the Congress as
in the intervening period, their source of power was New Delhi...". Bazaz continued,
- "The fact remained that the final
decision about selection of candidates, extent of rigging and supply of funds
rested with the central Congress leadership. Not even once the elections
were fair and free and a candidate holding independent views had slim chance
to be elected. It was taken for granted that so long as the ruling party was
in the good books of the Central Government, it was sure by hook or by crook
to win the majority at the polls; most of its candidates were declared elected
without contest".
The history of elections held in Jammu & Kashmir right from
October 1951 to 1999 is full of recorded evidence that points out large scale
state supported rigging, coercion and out-right brutality in the early years
and use of gun point to drag the helpless Kashmiris out of their homes to cast vote, in the later years.
The Central Congress Government controlled the ruling parties in the State
(National Conference from 1953-1965 and the Congress Party from 1965-1975), with its
handpicked nominees running the government.
The top opposition stalwarts like Maulvi Mohammad Yusuf Shah and Ghulam
Abbas had fled to the other side of the border in 1947. The Plebiscite Front had
boycotted the path of elections and was demanding self-determination.
This enabled the ruling National Conference to perpetuate its monopoly
over state power.
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was installed by India as the Prime Minister of the State in
March 1948 to rule the state along with Council of Ministers. [In Kashmir,
Chief Minister was called Prime Minister until 1965].
In October 1949, the Indian Constituent Assembly adopted Article 370 of the
Constitution, ensuring a degree of autonomy and special status for
Jammu and Kashmir. India held the first election in Kashmir in October 1951
to elect the Constituent Assembly. It is important to note that the UN made it
clear that this election is not a substitute for a plebiscite.
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Pakistan's Record in Elections in J&K
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During the 1996 elections in Indian controlled Kashmir, Pakistan supported militants, besides other militants, have threatened the voters and candidates against participating in the elections. There have been similar threats by militants in the Parliamentary elections in 1998 and 1999.
Though Azad Kashmir has its own Government with only defence and foreign affairs controlled by Pakistan, there have been charges of manipulation of elections and candidates by Pakistan in Azad Kashmir . Northern Areas are controlled by Pakistan and the people do not have basic democratic rights and have never participated in elections.
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According to P.S.Verma ,
"The National Conference, under the stewardship of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah
had won all the seventy-five seats of the Constituent Assembly in 1951.
Interesting enough, as many as the seventy-three of the total seventy-five
effective members of the Constituent Assembly were returned unopposed. Not
only this, the remaining seats were also captured by the ruling National
Conference without any contest. The opposition candidates either boycotted the
elections[Praja Parishad] or withdrew their candidature at the last moment
[independent candidates]. Thus all seventy-five seats were won by the ruling
party unopposed. It may be mentioned here that these unopposed elections were
not without manipulation". Effectively, the electorate did not vote in this
election.
The Indian government was then pressing Sheikh Abdullah
to ensure that the Kashmir legislative assembly ratified accession of Kashmir to
India. The 1948 Indian White Paper on J&K states that Maharaja Sir Hari Singh,
the Ruler of J&K had signed an Instrument of Accession in October 1947, acceding
his State to India and the accession was accepted by India conditional on
a plebiscite . Further,
between 1947-1951, Nehru repeated the assurance of holding a
plebiscite to decide the final accession of J&K, but in 1952 he suddenly
backed out citing
the Pak-US alliance. Critics have labeled this as flimsy excuse.
Meanwhile, while Abdullah had spoken publicly in favour of endorsing the Accession to India
since 1947, he began to drift towards autonomy/independence of J&K and procrastinated in
confirming the Instrument of Accession.
When the new assembly failed to ratify the accession document, the Indian Central
Govt arrested Abdullah in 1953 and appointed his chief deputy, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed,
as prime minister of J&K. Under Bakshi's administration, the assembly ratified
the Instrument of Accession in 1954.
While referring to the
first three Assembly elections of 1951, 1957 and 1962, it has been observed : "On all
three occasions, the government machinery was completely and unhesitatingly
used in support of the ruling party; opponents were disqualified on flimsy and
frivolous grounds; the few dauntless candidates who dared to stand for the
contest were mercilessly beaten or kidnapped; "peace brigade" men were
employed to intimidate voters; and whenever strong arm methods
failed the ballot boxes were tampered with enabling polling officers
to declare the victory of the National Conference Party men".
Bakshi won the Assembly elections in 1962. The rival groups discovered that
the ballot boxes could be opened easily without disturbing any of the seals
or locks upon them. Such boxes were brought to the residence of the Sadar-i-Riyasat
and the defect demonstrated in his presence. Even Pandit Nehru, in a letter in March 1962, was
constrained to point out to Bakshi that "It would strengthen your position much more if you lost a few seats to bonafide opponents". In 1963, Bakshi resigned
and was indicted on charges of corruption and misuse of power. The ten year period
of his rule is noted for the steady erosion of the special status of Kashmir
enshrined in Article 370. Protest demonstrations occurred in Kashmir in 1964 against
Articles 356 and 357 of the Indian Constitution being extended to the state.
G.M.Sadiq won the Assembly elections in 1967. The opposition groups even demanded
annulment of the Assembly elections, citing electoral malpractices. Several
opposition candidates filed petitions due to which results of about eight candidates
were declared void. One of the judges in the decision remarked that the returning officers
had entered into a conspiracy to reject nomination papers of non-Congress candidates
with a view to facilitating the unopposed return of a Congress candidate.
Mir Qasim won the 1972 Assembly elections amidst charges of rigging, which he
accepted and justified later in his memoirs. Sheikh Abdullah, while describing the 1972 elections as an
unabashed fraud on democracy, said: "All the primary members of the J&K Plebiscite Front
were declared by law as ineligible to contest any election or even to campaign for
any candidate, thus removing them conveniently from the field, clearing the path
for a walkover for the Congress."
While Sheikh Abdullah was in prison during most of the period 1953-1975, he spoke in favour of self-determination of Kashmiris. Sheikh Abdullah was installed back in power in 1975, after he signed the
Kashmir Accord with Indira Gandhi. The Accord retained Kashmir's 'special status',
but the state was termed as a 'constituent unit of the Union of India'. Opposition
parties and Pakistan condemned the Accord. After he won the Assembly elections in 1977,
he increasingly spoke in favour of protecting the autonomy and special status of
Kashmir. Thus he alternated between endorsing accession to India for political gains and demanding self-determination when his conscience called. Though the 1977 election is often cited as an example of the only free and fair election held in J&K, charges of election irregularities such as large-scale capturing of polling booths, attacking opposition workers and voter intimidation have clouded the fairness of that election as well.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi, whose Congress Party governed the state from 1965-1975 accused
the Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, of large scale rigging in 1983 Assembly elections. When
Farooq Abdullah joined hands with Rajiv Gandhi later, the rival groups accused him
of massive rigging during the 1987 Assembly elections; the opposition Muslim United Front(MUF)
showed how there were candidates getting votes but the ballot box was not producing
them. In 1984, Farooq Abdullah was deposed by his brother-in-law, Ghulam Mohammed Shah,
who had gained the backing of New Delhi. Before the next election in 1987, the
national government decided to re-install Farooq Abdullah, and Shah was dumped as
the candidate of the National Conference. The move continued a long-running
policy of misguided politics and bungling, that has led to destabilization and
has also prevented any Kashmiri leader from building a strong power base, and which
has ensured that potential chief ministers are beholden to New Delhi.
In the Parliamentary elections held in 1989, voter turnout was very thin in Kashmir Valley , partly due to threats by militants. President's rule was imposed in J&K from 1990-1996 following the insurgency.
Almost a decade after the last elections in Kashmir, the Indian government held
much-publicized elections in 1996. In the Parliamentary elections held in May, many people complained that they were
caught between militant groups who threatened to abuse people who participated in the
elections and the army and the so-called renegades threatening violations against
those who did not. The people were literally dragged out physically from their homes
at gunpoint, dumped into army trucks and brought to polling
booths.
