As the voting for the fifth phase of the District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir began early on Thursday, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the armed forces were being used to rig the elections to “favour a particular party”.
Taking to Twitter, the PDP chief who had earlier claimed of being illegally detained by the security forces said that people of Matribugh in Shopian are not being allowed to step out and vote on the “pretext” of inputs regarding the presence of terrorists. “In a brazen display of power, armed forces are being used to rig this election and favour a particular party,” she alleged.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mufti said that she was not allowed to visit Central Budgam district, where she was scheduled to meet some nomad Gujjar families who were “being evicted by the authorities from forest land”. In another video clip that she posted on Twitter, Mufti alleged, “GOI wants to continue inflicting oppression & zulm on the people of J&K without any questions asked.”
Pertinently on Nov 26, the PDP president had alleged that she and her daughter were placed under house arrest and were stopped from meeting the family of the incarcerated PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra in south Kashmir. On Nov 27, Parra was remanded to 15 days of National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody for allegedly conspiring with Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) to gain their support during the 2019 parliamentary elections.
However, Police had stated that Mufti was not under house arrest rather was requested to postpone her visit to Pulwama purely for security reasons.