Kashmir Bar defers polls as admin fails to issue permission

Srinagar: The Kashmir High Court Bar Association (KHCBA), a body of over 1,200 lawyers, on Thursday decided to defer its polls because the administration failed to grant them the required permission.

“We had approached the Srinagar administration for permission to conduct the polls for office- bearers on October 5. The date of polling was October 8. However, we did not receive any order from the administration, which tantamounts to denial of permission. Polls have been cancelled for time being”, Mudasir Gulzar Vakil, secretary of the election commission of the Bar association, told The Hindu.

CMO opinion sought Official sources said the district administration had sought the opinion of the Chief Medical Officer, Srinagar, whether such polls were feasible during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, in the letter forwarded to the Srinagar administration, the HCBA promised that “all standard operating procedures (SOPs) as advised would be meticulously followed”.

Mr. Vakil said, “We are clueless about the denial, as traders’ bodies were allowed to conduct elections”.

The candidates, who were contesting for different posts, had done poll campaigning and canvassing in the Valley courts.

The association is a very influential civil society body of the Valley that had challenged the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in the Supreme Court in 2019. Its president Mian Qayoom was among many other lawyers arrested in the crackdown launched ahead of the August 5 decision to revoke J&K’s special. He was released in July last.

Seen close to the Hurriyat, Mr. Qayoom, who served the HCBA for over two decades, had decided not to contest the polls this year. (The Hindu)