Earlier on Wednesday, Mufti had sent a letter to the Governor, stating that the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference and the Congress were willing to support her party to form the government and hence they had enough numbers to stake claim. Before that, Lone had also written to the Governor, staking claim to form the government, with the support of 25-member BJP and another 18 legislators.
However, the Governor abruptly dissolved the government on Wednesday night, with the Raj Bhavan releasing a communiqué regarding the announcement. In a statement issued later, the Raj Bhavan said that the Governor arrived at this conclusion “based on the material available to him from multiple sources.”
Explaining the main reasons in four points, the statement raised concerns over the “impossibility of forming a stable government” by the alliance of political parties with “opposing” political views.
It read, “The impossibility of forming a stable government by the coming together of political parties with opposing political ideologies including some which have been demanding dissolution of the Assembly; whereas the experience of the past few years shows that with the fractured mandate that is there in the Assembly, it is not possible to form a stable government comprising of like minded parties.” It added, “The coming together of such parties in a grouping is nothing but an attempt to gain power rather than to form a responsive government.”
The second reason mentioned stated that there were reports of “extensive” horse-trading and a possibility of exchange of money in a bid to secure the support of legislators to form the government along with parties with “diverging political views.” The statement said, “Reports of extensive horse-trading and possible exchange of money in order to secure the support of legislators belonging to widely diverging political ideologies just to be able to form a government. Such activities are not healthy for democracy and vitiate the political process.”
The third reason given by the Governor was the “serious doubts about the longevity of any such arrangement where there are competing claims of majority”.
Lastly, the statement said, “The fragile security scenario in the state of Jammu and Kashmir where there is a need to have a stable and supportive environment for security forces which are engaged in extensive anti-militancy operations and are gradually gaining control over the security situation.”
Keeping in mind the aforementioned points, the Governor came to the conclusion that the dissolution of assembly was the best course of action “so as to provide stability and security to the state and hold elections at an appropriate time so that a government with a clear mandate is duly formed.”
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has welcomed the government’s decision to dissolve the Assembly, both NC’s Omar Abdullah and the PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti questioned the timing of the move.
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