Srinagar, Sept 19: In a significant move, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has deregistered 12 political parties based in Jammu & Kashmir.
Among the delisted parties is one that contested the 2002 Assembly elections on the slogan of trifurcation of Jammu & Kashmir. Another party removed from the registry is headed by a former minister from the PDP-Congress coalition, who was arrested in connection with a Hawala case. Also included in the list is a party formed by a former Member Parliament who was backed by the Awami Action Committee (AAC) in 1977 state polls when he contested on Janata Party ticket.
The decision was made public on Friday through an official order.
These parties have been taken off from the ECI’s registry on the grounds of failing to contest any election in the past six years.
According to the order, the Backward Classes Democratic Party, Duggar Pradesh Party, Front of Revolutionised Creative Efforts, Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Party (Secular), Kashmir Development Front, Nature Mankind Friendly Global Party, Secular Party of India, and Social Movement Party-headquartered in J&K-have been deregistered for failing to contest any election continuously for the past six years.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Democratic Front was headed by Abdur Rashid Kabuli, who won on Janata Party ticket in 1977 from the Eidgah segment of Srinagar. Kabuli was then backed by the Awami Action Committee, which was declared an unlawful association by the Central Government in 2025.
The Nature Mankind Friendly Global Party is headed by Babu Singh, a former minister in the PDP-Congress government. He was arrested in a Hawala case in 2022. (KNO)
