NEW DELHI, June 21: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that the revision of electoral rolls in four states will be completed by August 20 kicking off the process of holding state Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra due before the end of the year.
The ECI wrote to the Chief Electoral Officers of the poll-bound states and Union Territory on Thursday, giving the schedule of the special summary revision (SSR) of the electoral roll, official sources said on Friday.
In a statement on Friday, the ECI said the pre-special summary revision exercises, including rationalising the locations of polling stations to make them more convenient, would start on June 25. The electoral rolls would be updated with the cut-off date of July 1 in the poll-bound states and UT – Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and J-K, the EC said. The draft rolls would be published on July 25, after which electors have the chance to file claims and objections till August 9. The publication of the final electoral roll will be completed by August 20, as per the schedule.
While J-K has not had an Assembly in place since it was dissolved in 2018, the term of the Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand assemblies is ending on November 11, November 26, and January 5, 2025.
“General Election to the Legislative Assembly of UT of J&K is also to be conducted for constituting a new house after delimitation of constituencies. Witnessing the huge participation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections, the Commission has also directed for the updation of the electoral rolls in the UT of J&K with July 1, 2024 as the qualifying date,” the EC said.
In addition to the SSR, the EC is holding training for officials of the poll-bound states in Delhi this week, sources said. The poll panel has also started the process for holding 47 by-elections that are due across the country, they said.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in Srinagar on Thursday that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would have the opportunity to elect their own Assembly and the Supreme Court while upholding the abrogation of Article 370 last year had ordered the ECI to hold Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections by September 30.
The Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had said earlier this month that the poll panel would start the process of conducting the elections “very soon.” The five Parliamentary constituencies of J-K had an overall turnout of 58.58 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections.
(Manas Dasgupta)