J-K polls: CEC says decision to be taken after considering weather, security concerns

New Delhi, January 18

Without spelling out a specific timeline, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar today said that assembly polls in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir would be held keeping in mind several factors including weather and security concerns.

Replying to queries regarding holding polls in the UT Kumar said, “We are conscious that in any place which is due for elections, it is our duty that we get the government in place as mandated.”

Kumar went on to say that the delimitation process in J&K has been completed and so is the special summary revision or revision of electoral roll. The CEC said returning officers and additional electoral registration officers have also been appointed in the rearranged and new constituencies.

The CEC said the Commission was aware that once the process is complete, elections must be held. But before taking a final decision the panel would take into consideration “the weather, the security concerns and all other factors, including other elections at that time”, he noted.

The final electoral roll of Jammu and Kashmir was published on November 25 last year, paving the way for the Assembly polls, the first since the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution were abrogated in 2019 and the erstwhile state was reorganised into two UTs – J&K (with assembly) and Ladakh.

The revision of the electoral roll was carried out after a gap of nearly three years. It was last carried out with reference to January 1, 2019 as the qualifying date. The electoral roll could not be updated after the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370. Subsequently, the constituencies were redrawn following a delimitation exercise.

After the delimitation exercise, the number of assembly seats in the UT has gone up from 83 to 90, excluding the seats allocated to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).