J&K assembly polls to be held after Lok Sabha elections: CEC
Election Commission of India announces national polls in Jammu & Kashmir, with assembly elections to be held after Lok Sabha polls due to security concerns.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is committed to holding assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir as soon as possible after the Lok Sabha exercise, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday as he announced national polls in the Union territory, sparking condemnation from Valley-based parties that wanted the legislative assembly elections to be conducted at the same time.
The five Lok Sabha seats in J&K will vote across five phases beginning April 19 and ending on May 20. The lone Lok Sabha seat in adjoining Ladakh will also vote on May 20. To put this in perspective, the only other state voting in five phases is Maharashtra with 48 seats.
“Due to security in J&K, every candidate has to be provided with two sections of force. It means, we would need 400 to 450 companies of force, which is not possible in such a big country. But we stand committed to hold elections after the Lok Sabha polls as forces will be available,” said Kumar, who was in J&K recently to hold consultations with political parties and the administration.
He clarified that the logistical challenge of providing security to every candidate in the region during nationwide polls made holding both events concurrently impractical.
“The entire administrative machinery in one voice said it cannot be done simultaneously. Every assembly segment would have 10-12 candidates, which would mean more than 1,000 candidates. Every candidate has to be provided security. It was not possible at this time,” the CEC said.
J&K-based parties expressed disappointment. “If there are conducive conditions for the parliamentary election, how is it not alright for the state election? There is something fishy,” said National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah.
Assembly elections have not been held in J&K for a decade. In this time, the region has lost its special status and statehood and voted in local body elections. The Lok Sabha polls will be the first major direct elections to be held in the restive region where the last elected government was in power in 2018. The Union territory, which has an assembly, is currently ruled by a lieutenant governor who reports to the Union home ministry.
Kumar announced that the Udhampur constituency in Jammu will go to polls on April 19, the first phase of the elections along with 18 states and two other UTs. Jammu will see polling in the second phase on April 26. Anantnag and Srinagar in Kashmir will vote on May 7 and May 13, in the third and fourth phases respectively. Baramulla in north Kashmir will go to the polls on May 20 in the fifth phase.
A total of 8.6 million voters, including 4.2 million women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in J&K.
Kumar said he was conscious about the delay in holding polls. said, “We are very conscious (of the delay in holding polls) and we often face allegations. When we went there (J&K) people told us, they had to go to SC to get us to conduct the election and asked us, why aren’t you conducting the election?”
Kumar pointed out that the J&K Reorganisation Act that was passed in 2019 provided for 107 seats in the assembly, including 24 reserved for residents of Pakistan-occupied J&K.
“In 2022, the delimitation commission’s report was accepted. It changed seats. From 107, seats increased to 114. 24 were reserved for residents of PoK. Out of 90 9 seats were reserved for STs and two seats for migrants including one for a woman. Another seat was for nominated member belonging to displaced people from PoK,” Kumar said.
He reasoned that the reorganisation act and the delimitation act were not in sync and that happened in December 2023 by amending the former. “So our meter for holding the election started running from December 2023,” Kumar clarified.
In December last year, the Supreme Court upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 but directed restoration of statehood “at the earliest”, besides setting a deadline of September 30 this year for holding assembly polls in the region.
Several political figures, including People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Naeem Akhtar and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M Y Tarigami, expressed disappointment and concern over the decision, saying it has left the people of Jammu and Kashmir feeling excluded from the democratic process.
“So much for One Nation One Election. The EC is unable to conduct assembly polls in J&K with the general election even when they acknowledge that elections are due,” former chief minister Omar Abdullah said on X.
However, the BJP defended the move. “We also wanted the assembly elections to be held with the Lok Sabha polls. But it is the decision of the EC, which has said the assembly polls will be held after the general election. It is a welcome step. There may have been security concerns,” Jammu & Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina said.
