Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has said that elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held after taking into consideration the security, weather and poll schedule of the other poll bound states.
He was addressing a press conference in New Delhi. Kumar said the delimitation exercise in the union territory has been completed and fixing and rearranging polling stations, appointing of Ros and AEROs and rest of the formalities have been done.
“We are of the view that wherever these things are completed, elections become due and they must be held,” he said. However, he linked the holding of polls with the security situation and weather, implying that a government nod is necessary for the announcing the polls in the former state which has been under direct Central rule after the collapse of the PDP-BJP government in June 2018.
After the revocation of Article 370 and division of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories—J&K and Ladakh—the BJP government had said statehood to Jammu and Kashmir would be restored after the delimitation excercise and revision of electoral rolls. Delimitation was completed last year after which Jammu gained six additional seats while Kashmir region, despite having more population than Jammu, had only one.
The regional parties had accused the Delimitation Commission of working at the behest of the BJP.
After delimitation, Jammu region has 43 seats and Kashmir 47 in the 90-member assembly. The Commission has also recommended nominating two representatives to the assembly with full voting rights to Kashmiri pandits. It has also asked the government to consider nominating members of refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir living in Jammu.
The regional parties and the Congress have been demanding the holding of elections in Jammu and Kashmir to restore democracy in the erstwhile state.
