Former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said the Election Commission of India appeared to be under pressure not to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir and it should have the courage to tell people so.

“The Election Commission of India should muster the courage to say that they are under pressure and can’t hold elections here. On one hand, you say there is a vacuum and on the other, you are not ready to fill the vacuum. Somewhere, there is something fishy,” Omar told reporters in Srinagar.

“If there was a vacuum that time, why is that not being filled? What is the compulsion, pressure that they are delaying the elections?” the National Conference leader said.

Omar was referring to the March statement of chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar that there was a vacuum that needed to be filled in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The Election Commission should reply. We want to hear from them. Did the chief election commissioner not say that there is a vacuum and it needs to be filled?” Omar said.

The Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are long due but the BJP-led government at the Centre is not giving the go-ahead for the polls, apparently over fears of defeat.

The last Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in 2014. The state-turned-Union Territory has had no Assembly since 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party.

Last month, Omar had expressed fear that theBJP’s loss in Karnataka had closed the door for immediate elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Omar said the Centre was snatching the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir by not holding the elections, but added that they would not beg fot it.

“Election is our right but we are not going down on our knees for it. If they want to snatch the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, if they get some pleasure out of it, let them do it. We also have some self-respect and dignity,” he said.