New Delhi: Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir shall be held “right after” the Lok Sabha polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) mentioned Saturday. The Supreme Court had earlier directed the ECI to carry meeting elections in J&Okay by 30 September, 2024.
The normal elections shall be held in seven phases — from April 19 to June 1 — and outcomes shall be declared on 4 June.
“We are committed to holding Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections right after Lok Sabha polls as soon as possible,” Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar mentioned Saturday whereas asserting the Lok Sabha ballot dates.
While Kumar acknowledged that every one political events demanded simultaneous polls within the Union territory with the Lok Sabha, he mentioned there was “unanimous” resistance from the administration. ThePrint had earlier reported that the ruling BJP, in step with different regional events of the UT, was additionally eager on simultaneous polls in J&Okay.
Giving causes for non-simultaneous polls, Kumar mentioned, “Administrative agencies unanimously said we cannot conduct it (elections) together. We asked why. When assembly constituencies go to polls simultaneously, each constituency will have around 10-12 candidates. This means around 1,000 candidates.”
He added, “In Jammu & Kashmir, due to security concerns, each candidate needs to be provided with two sections of forces. That means for these 1,000 candidates, we will need 450-500 more companies. In this vast country, at this point of time that could not be provided due to security reasons.”
Former J&Okay chief minister Omar Abdullah had in an interview to ThePrint this week mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should push for simultaneous polls and embody J&Okay within the “one nation, one election umbrella”.
“The PM himself has talked about ‘one nation, one election’. If you are looking for that, and assuming that by the next Parliament elections, you will have this process in place, then why not start now? This is a brilliant opportunity to bring in J&K into the one nation one election umbrella by having elections for assembly and Parliament simultaneously,” Abdullah had mentioned.
The ECI’s choice to not maintain simultaneous polls comes at a time when the Modi authorities is pushing for ‘One Nation, One Election’.
Jammu & Kashmir has been with out meeting for over 5 years now, with the final meeting elections having taken place in December 2014. The upcoming Lok Sabha polls would be the first main election within the state after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, aside from 2020 district growth polls.
Apart from this, it’ll even be the primary election primarily based on the delimitation report submitted in 2022. Instead of two Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and three in Kashmir, each areas now have two Lok Sabha seats every. The fifth seat cuts by means of the 2 areas — throughout three districts in South Kashmir and two districts in Jammu area.
Lok Sabha elections within the Union territory shall be held in 5 phases, with every constituency going to polls in a distinct section. This time, in comparison with 2019, the proportion of feminine voters has seen an increase. For each 1,000 male voters, the variety of feminine voters has elevated to 954 in 2024 from 945 in 2019.
Reacting to the ECI’s announcement, the Congress’s chief spokesperson in J&Okay Ravindra Sharma expressed his disappointment in a submit on X.
ECI dissatisfied People of J&Okay by not asserting overdue meeting elections.Neither SC route nor ‘One nation one election slogancould assist JK folks to realize early restoration of democracy. @INCJammuKashmir @INCIndia @Jairam_Ramesh
— Ravinder Sharma (@RavinderJKPCC) March 16, 2024
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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