Two residents of Jammu and Kashmir have moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking the restoration of statehood within two months in the wake of the conduct of the Assembly elections.

The applicants have cited the assurance of solicitor-general Tushar Mehta recorded by a five-judge bench that statehood would be restored once elections were over.

The application has been filed by Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and Khurshaid Ahmad Malik. Bhat is an academic working as a senior political science lecturer in the government education department. He was one of the original writ petitioners who had challenged the abrogation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court. Malik works as a technical senior for the Smart City project.

Both the petitioners have through their lawyer Soayib Qureshi pleaded “that if the status of statehood is not restored to Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner, grave prejudice would be caused to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir also leading to the violation of their fundamental rights and also gravely affecting the democratic structure of Jammu and Kashmir and its territorial integrity".

The applicants recalled that while upholding the Centre's action to abrogate Article 370, the apex court had through its December 11, 2023, judgment only upheld the creation of the Union Territory of Ladakh.

“This hon’ble court did not proceed to consider the issue of whether a state can be extinguished altogether on account of the statement made by the learned solicitor-general wherein it was stated that statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir and that its status as a Union Territory is temporary,” Qureshi said.