Jammu, The occupied Jammu and Kashmir chapter of Indian National Congress, hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the delay in the Urban Local Body (ULB) and Panchayat elections, said that it could not face people and was deferring polls in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir for fear of defeat.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the Congress Working President in IIOJK, Raman Bhalla, and senior vice president Ravinder Sharma in a joint press conference in Jammu said that as per law and Constitution, the elections to these bodies were required to be conducted one month prior to the expiry of their 5-year term. “While all municipal bodies, including Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations, would complete their term by November 14, the elections should have been conducted and completed by October 15 but they have been delayed and deferred,” they added.

The Congress leaders said that the ruling BJP was afraid of facing all elections be it ULB, Panchayats and especially assembly elections, for fear of losing, as Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council elections were a trailer for the BJP.

“The real picture will unfold after the Assembly elections and the BJP shall be wiped out in the Jammu region too,” they claimed.

“The non-holding of Assembly elections and the deferment of the ULB and Panchayat elections is a murder of democracy and the people are suffering a lot due to the autocratic style of the bureaucratic regime, which is passing arbitrary orders every other day at its whims and fancies,” the Congress leaders maintained.