Jammu,March 9 (Scoop News) - Urging for a uniform duration for all democratic institutions in the J&K state, Harsh Dev Singh NPP MLA said any bias or preferential treatment to Legislature with prejudice against other institutions was highly unjust, and opposed to the spirit of democracy.

Harsh Dev Singh and its Working Chairman have castigated the government for its double standards with regard to the duration of various democratic institutions in the state. He said that whereas the term of Members of Legislative Assembly has been fixed as six years, the other democratic institutions like Panchayats and local bodies which comprise Municipal Corporations, Councils and Municipal Committees are dissolved after five years. He said fixation of different yardsticks for different democratic institutions was highly capricious, whimsical and defied all logic and rationale.

Harsh further said that it was peculiar to J&K state where the term of Legislative Assembly had been fixed for six years as against five years term of Legislative Assembly in all other states of Indian Union. He said the anomalous situation provided the most glaring instance of abuse of the special status, special powers, and separate constitution which the state of J&K possessed.

Calling for a debate on the issue, Harsh Dev Singh said that he had moved as Bill on the subject in the Legislative Assembly seeking fixation of five years term for the state legislative Assembly in conformity with the position prevalent in other states of the country. He said that highly developed nations like USA had even a much lesser term of four years which was followed by elections. Favoring however, five-year term as ideal duration, he said even the constitution framers had suggested five-year period. He said the increase in duration of Legislature from five to six years in mid seventies lacked public sanction and was also opposed to basic tenets of constitution and constitutional property. He said that the fact had been endorsed even by the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during one of his speeches made outside the state where he had advocated simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. He said chief minister had made the said statement fully conscious of the fact that simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and Assembly could be held only if the two democratic institutions had identical term.

Reminding the Chief Minister of his statement, Singh urged upon all other political parties to support the aforesaid Bill so as to have five-year term for Assembly in J&K State.