HC to hear plea against Mehbooba, Omar on Friday

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on Kashmiri leaders Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah from participating in the Lok Sabha elections will be heard on Friday (April 12).

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said the matter will be heard by another bench on Friday.

The court was hearing the petition which has sought a direction to the Election Commission (EC) to ban the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from joining the 2019 general elections as "the loyalties of the leaders of these parties lie elsewhere and not in the Indian Constitution".

The petition filed by advocate Sanjiv Kumar has also sought direction to book them on various charges including sedition of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In his plea, the petitioner said allowing these leaders to contest the elections would be a mockery of democracy as these people openly call for sedition to divide "Mother India" on the basis of religion and are demanding two Prime Ministers -- one for Jammu and Kashmir and another for the rest of India.

The petitioner told the court that National Conference President Farooq Abdullah and his son's statement that they would demand revival of the post of Wazir-e-Azam and Sadar-e-Riyasat for Kashmir is unacceptable.

"Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah's seditious, communal statements are against the Indian Constitution and hence the court/Election Commission should bar/impose conditions on their entry to a very constitutional House (Lok Sabha) as their loyalties lie somewhere else and not in the Indian Constitution," the plea said.