Image Source: TRIBUNE

The National Conference today expressed willingness to participate in the next month’s panchayat polls provided all detained political leaders are released.

In a letter written to Shailendra Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Union Territories (UTs) of J&K and Ladakh, Rattan Lal Gupta, central secretary of the NC, said, the party believed in strengthening democracy at the grassroots level.

“In the given circumstances, when the J&K National Conference, which is a strong votary of democratic process, wishes to participate in polls, it is practically impossible for the party in view of the fact that the top leadership, including its president Dr Farooq Abdullah, vice-president Omar Abdullah and general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar are under detention under the Public Safety Act. Various other senior leaders are also under detention in Kashmir and so the process of selecting candidates, giving mandates and campaigning under the given circumstances is impossible,” he said in the letter, adding, “We reiterate our commitment to strengthen democracy at the grassroots level. However, for a genuine political exercise to happen, it is important that the mainstream political thought, which is a unifying force, is allowed to freely propagate and demonstrate its ideology. For this to happen, a political ecosystem has to be developed to ensure that the democratic institutions, for which elected members are elected, become genuine and credible reflectors of the peoples’ aspirations”.