ready-to-contest-elections-if-ban-is-revoked-jamaat-e-islami-j-k

Putting aside its historical stance of boycotting all elections held in the state,  the now-banned Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir said on Wednesday that it was ready to contest all elections on condition that the centre was ready to lift the ban imposed on the organisation.

 

The Ministry of Home Affairs banned the organisation in February 2019 after revoking Article 370 from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The official statement issued by the MHA read that the organisation was indulged in "anti-national activities, and was thus banned for five years.

 

In the latest notification issued by the MHA, the ban on the organisation was extended for another five years under UAPA in February 2024.

 

Addressing a media gathering here, JEI panel leader Ghulam Qadir Wani of Gussu, Pulwama, said that members of Jel also voted in the recently held parliamentary elections.

 

Wani was spotted casting his ballot in the Srinagar Lok Sabha polls on May 13.

 

Wani was quoted by a local media outlet saying, "We will try to contest the upcoming Assembly elections scheduled for September this year."

"We will field our candidates if the Centre revokes the ban on us. There are other issues, but the revocation of the ban is the first pre-condition to joining the poll fray," Wani told reporters.

 

He added that, in addition to drug abuse and increasing immorality, JeI's campaign platform will include socio-religious changes.

 

Wani stated that a critical session of the JeI's Majlis-e Shoora was conducted, and a decision was made to contest elections.

 

"We never changed our stance, as we believe in democracy," he stated. In response to a question on why JeI members boycotted polls in the past, he stated that when no one voted, JeI followed suit. "There was pressure and a threat as well, "he claimed.