Srinagar: Former Srinagar city Mayor and National Conference leader Salman Sagar on Wednesday termed Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Mayor elections as 'selection'.
Reportedly, the elections were held earlier today where Junaid Matoo has been elected as the Mayor for the second time.
"The SMC elections that took place today were conducted in a strange manner. Corporators and acting mayor were beaten, lathi-charged. This is not the way an election process is done," Sagar told ETV Bharat.
He said, "The presiding committee failed to deliver. One section was allowed to vote while the other was ousted from the centre. This is a blot on the democratic process. I feel it was a selection and not the election. People lose faith in democracy due to such activities."
"People have made sacrifices to uphold the democratic setup here but such things will make people move away from democracy," he added.
Commenting on the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) statement welcoming Matoo as mayor while criticizing Sagar, he said, "If they believed that Salman Sagar will become a corporator and then will claim the mayor's seat, then I can't say anything about it. The elections of the corporator have not taken place yet. But, I will definitely say that democracy doesn't mean that you have to beat someone before the election."
"While open threats were already being made. We had concerns that they might do something during the elections. I am now convinced that the Election Commission too should take note of these things and act accordingly. BJP's statement has made everything clear."
Interestingly, Salman Sagar is contesting next month's Corporator elections as a National Conference candidate from Sura and Solana area of Srinagar city.
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