Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 10: Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), Regional Branch, Jammu, organized a lecture on the topic ‘Elections and Party System in J&K since 2002′.
Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Jammu, Dr SS Bloeria, was the chief guest, while Dr Ashok Bhan, chairman, J&K Regional Branch, presided over the function.
Professor Rekha Chowdhary, who was the lead speaker, started her talk by giving a brief analysis of party system since early 1950s. She said that hegemony of a single party not only weakened the democratic frame of politics of the State, but also generated discontent both in Kashmir and Jammu region.
“All this changed in 2002 with the entry of PDP. This had the implications of locating the electoral politics in the popular responses. For the first time, people in Kashmir had the satisfaction of changing an incumbent Government through their ballot”, she added.
Dr Bloeria in his remarks referred to the four major developments in the politics of J&K which marked 2002 as a turning point. Of these, the first is the emergence of PDP; second, there was a general realisation about efficacy of voters’ rights; third, there was a real beginning of coalition politics in the State and fourth, not only Jammu but Ladakh was also mainstreamed in the politics of the State.
Dr Bhan referred to various phases of politics of Kashmir and emphasised the shifting nature of politics during each phase. He dismissed the possibility of elections being manipulated in substantial way in the present era.
There was a lively interaction in which the members of the IIPA and other civil society members raised a number of queries and further carried the discussion.
JBS Johar conducted the session and Chander Gulati presented vote of thanks.
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