Former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti on Friday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) not to postpone the polls for the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency on the pleading of the BJP and its allies.

National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who is the PDP candidate for the Anantnag seat, held separate press conferences warning the ECI not to act in a partisan manner under the pressure of BJP and its allies whose demand for postponing the polls was unjustified.

The two leaders also wrote to the ECI against “tinkering” with the election process.

The recently carved Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency is scheduled to go to polls in the third phase on 7 May to decide the fate of 21 candidates, including Mufti, who is facing a major challenge from National Conference leader and former minister Mian Altaf.

The former chief ministers made the appeal after the ECI sought a report from Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and the Chief Electoral Officer J&K on representations submitted by some parties and three candidates seeking rescheduling of elections in the constituency due to adverse weather conditions, including snowfall on the Mughal road.

Abdullah told media-persons in Srinagar; “I appeal to the ECI that such a step should not be taken. The demand for postponement is not from all parties. The weird thing is that some of the people who have written to the EC are not contesting. If I write to the EC about constituencies in Tamil Nadu etc, will they take notice,” he said.

“As a political party, we strongly oppose any attempts to postpone the upcoming elections in the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency. We believe there is no valid reason to delay the electoral process, even if the Mughal road is closed for a few hours. If the administration can keep the roads to Kargil, Machil, and Gurez open, then there is no reason why the Mughal road cannot be kept open as well, unless the administration joins in the conspiracy to manipulate the electoral mandate in this constituency”, Abdullah said.

He said that the BJP and Peoples Conference that have not even fielded their candidates on the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, are among those seeking postponement of polling.

Speaking to reporters in the Surankote area of the Poonch district, Mufti said, “They all have ganged up against me because they do not want to see me in Parliament. The people, cutting across religious and party lines, are coming forward in my support and they are, therefore, using the Election Commission to defer and rig the elections”.

The PDP leader said she travelled through the Mughal road which was recently opened for traffic and now the BJP and its friend parties have suddenly raked up the issue of Mughal road.

“My request to the ECI is not to postpone the elections when only 10 days are left for the polling. This will send the wrong message and will have serious consequences,” she said before leaving for the border town of Mendhar to carry forward her campaign.

Mufti referred to the alleged rigging in the 1987 assembly elections leading to eruption of terrorism in J&K, and said, “We request the ECI not to do such an adventure as the people in J&K have already suffered a lot and have little faith left in the electoral process.”

She warned the BJP and its allies that “You are trying to repeat 1987 which caused bloodshed and turned the valley into a graveyard.”

When asked about the apprehensions of poll postponement in Anantnag-Rajouri, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the EC is an independent institution and whatever decision it takes with regard to elections in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat will be followed by the BJP.

Among those who have submitted their representation to the ECI include J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, DPAP candidate, Peoples Conference leader Imran Reza Ansari and two independent candidates.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool Wani said the BJP and its ‘B-teams’ have moved the ECI as they are facing “significant defeat” from the INDI Alliance candidate. The Congress is supporting the National Conference from the constituency as part of seat sharing agreement among INDIA bloc partners.