Srinagar
The Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday said it was hopeful that Governor Satya Pal Malik would convene an all-party meeting on holding of the urban local bodies and panchayat elections in the state.

“(When) in government I had called an all-party meeting to discuss the ULB/panchayat elections and the majority of the parties had opposed holding of elections at that time. We had expected that the Governor too would call an all-party meeting where everyone would put forward their viewpoint, PDP president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said in a series of tweets.

She said the PDP was hopeful that such a meeting would be called and her party would share its opinion with other parties in order to build a consensus on the issue.
“We are still hopeful about that meet and would share our opinion with all parties so that a consensus is built, she added.

Mehbooba’s tweets came a little over an hour after PDP’s arch-rival National Conference announced that it would not participate in these elections in view of the prevailing situation in the Valley caused by the legal challenge to Article 35-A of the Constitution.

The PDP also tweeted that the Centre’s plea in the apex court to link Article 35-A with the panchayat and local bodies elections was a “disastrous” idea.