Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 13: The chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Wednesday that the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir would be held “at the earliest.”
Speaking to media persons, Mr Kumar, who reached Jammu on Wednesday to review preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, said the political parties in a meeting with him on Tuesday asked about the delay in holding Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, which they said was forcing them to approach courts for getting a September deadline.
Asserting that the Assembly elections would be held at the earliest, the CEC said, “A final decision on holding them simultaneously with that of parliamentary elections or one after another will be taken following security review after taking the feedback of political parties, district magistrates, government and officials of the para military forces,” he said.
Jammu and Kashmir has been under central rule since November 2018, when then Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Assembly citing reports about the possibility of horse trading during government formation.
Pointing out that political parties in Srinagar too had raised the issue of the delay in the Assembly elections, Mr Kumar said the J&K Reorganisation Act (which bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories) came in 2019. At that time, the Assembly had 107 seats, including 24 reserved for people living in areas of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and seven for Scheduled Castes.
Thereafter came the delimitation commission and its report raising the total number of Assembly seats from 107 to 114 was accepted by the government in 2022. Apart from 24 seats for PoK people and seven for SCs, the delimitation report included nine seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes, two for migrants including one of them to be a woman, besides one seat for people displaced from PoK.
There was dissonance between the J&K Reorganisation Act and the Delimitation Commission report. “We are ready for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. We will ensure free and fair elections across the country. We request voters across the country including Jammu and Kashmir to enthusiastically take part in the ‘festival of democracy,” the CEC said.
He said social media cells would be established in all districts to respond to fake news in real-time. “Adequate security to be provided to all candidates and central forces will be deployed,” he added. Kumar said strict vigil will be maintained on online cash transfers through wallets in Jammu and Kashmir. People above 85 years and those with a disability would be provided a voting at-home facility in J-K, he added.