J&K Assembly Elections: Election Commission to meet Home Secretary today
New Delhi, August 13
The Election Commission will meet Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Wednesday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, indicating towards the possibility of holding the Assembly elections in the UT, official sources said. The EC had reviewed the poll preparedness in J&K last week.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had emphasised that the poll authority was committed to holding Assembly elections in the UT at the earliest.
No outside or internal forces could derail the electoral process, Kumar had asserted.
The electoral exercise in Jammu and Kashmir is usually spread over a month. Following a delimitation exercise, the number of Assembly seats had gone up from 83 to 90, excluding those allocated to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Last December, the Supreme Court directed the poll panel to hold Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30.
The EC last month asked the UT Administration to transfer out officers posted in their home districts, an exercise it holds ahead of conducting elections.
The commission has been following a consistent policy that officers directly connected with the conduct of elections in a poll-bound state or Union Territory are not posted in their home districts or places where they have served for a considerably long period.
It is usual for the poll panel to issue instructions related to transfers of officers ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. — TNS
Committed to holding poll at the earliest
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had emphasised that the poll authority was committed to holding Assembly elections in the UT at the earliest.
