ECI announces much-awaited Assembly polls in J-K

SRINAGAR — Chief Election Commission of India (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Friday announced three-phased Assembly polls for J&K, starting from September 18.

It will be the first Assembly election J&K would witness as a Union Territory after a decade. In J&K, the last Assembly polls were held in 2014. It would also be the first election in J&K post Article 370 revocation. The special status guaranteed by Article 370 was scrapped by BJP-led government at the Centre on August 5, 2019 when Government of India sliced the erstwhile State into two UTs—J&K and Ladakh.

“We had promised the shortest Assembly poll schedule and we stand by our promise. Elections in J&K will be held in three phases from September 18. The second phase will be on September 25 and third phase will be held on October 3. Counting of votes will take place on October 4 and the election process will end on October 6,” the CEC Kumar said addressing a press conference at New Delhi as per the news agency KNO.

Total constituencies and voters

The CEC said that there are 90 Assembly constituencies of which 74 are general and 7 are Scheduled Caste and 9 seats belong to ST category people. “There are 87.9 lakh electors of which 44.46 lakh are male and 42.36 lakh are female voters,” he said, adding that Amarnath Yatra is concluding on August 19 and final electoral rolls will be published on August 20, a copy of which will be sent to all political parties.

Flanked by the two Election Commissioners—Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, the CEC said that there are 11838 total polling stations in J&K. “Location-wise, there are 9169 locations. It is predominantly rural area as far as polling stations are concerned. There are 360 model polling stations,” the CEC said.

Changed scenario after Parliament elections

“In Lok Sabha polls in J&K, there was a belief over cynicism. There was a thriving political participation in the polls and intense campaigns. There is a bit of change in the security situation but that won’t affect the democratic process,” the CEC said.

“What we want to do is to strengthen the layers of democracy,” he said and added that they expect that there would be more voters this time. “We hope to see women participation and also youth participation as well. There should be vigorous campaigning as well.”

Lok Sabha polls to set base for Assembly polls

The CEC said that they saw a great enthusiasm in Lok Sabha polls and there is a yearning for strengthening the democracy further. “We met everyone in J&K and all of them wanted early polls,” Kumar said, adding, “In J&K, long queues reflected the power of democracy, they were not just long queues but peoples’ hopes and people scripting their own history. People had a message that they were in the queue not to vote only but to demonstrate a desire that democracy flourishes in their area.”

He said, “People of J&K wanted to write about their future themselves. People wanted to be part of the change and write their fortune. This was purely a triumph of ballot over bullet. Valley rejected violence and raised their voice through vote. They choose ballots over bullets.”

The CED said, “Every section of the society must get a chance to participate in polls. We have relaxed form M for migrant voters. Self-attestation is there for the migrant voters. During the LS elections, there were no re-polls and overall elections were incident free.”

The CEC said that there was a seizure of Rs 100 crore seizure of drugs and liquor. To a query about security of candidates, the CEC said that all the candidates will get adequate security cover and political parties will be given a level playing field.

Phase-wise poll schedule

The seats going to poll in phase one include Pampore, Tral, Pulwama, Rajpora, Zainapora, Shopian, D.H. Pora, Kulgam, Devsar, Dooru, Kokernag (ST), Anantnag West, Anantnag, Srigufwara – Bijbehara, Shangus – Anantnag East, Pahalgam, Inderwal, Kishtwar, Padder – Nagseni, Bhadarwah, Doda, Doda West, Ramban and Banihal.

According to the poll body, 26 seats would go to the polls in the second phase for which notification would be issued on August 29. The voting in these seats spread over three districts each of central Kashmir and Pir Panchal region and Reasi district would take place on September 25.

The seats going to polls in second phase include Kangan (ST), Ganderbal, Hazratbal, Khanyar, Habbakadal, Lal Chowk, Channapora, Zadibal, Eidgah, Central Shalteng, Budgam, Beerwah, Khansahib, Chrar-i-Sharief, Chadoora, Gulabgarh (ST), Reasi, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Kalakote – Sunderbani, Nowshera Rajouri (ST), Budhal (ST), Thannamandi (ST), Surankote (ST), Poonch Haveli and Mendhar (ST).

In the last phase, election would take place for as many as 40 seats. While the notification for this phase would be issued on September 5, the voting would take place on October 1.

The seats going to polls in the third phase include Karnah, Trehgam, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara, Langate, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Wagoora – Kreeri, Pattan, Sonawari, Bandipora, Gurez (ST), Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chenani, Ramnagar (SC), Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Jasrota, Kathua (SC), Hiranagar, Ramgarh (SC) Samba, Vijaypur, Bishnah (SC), Suchetgarh (SC), R.S. Pura – Jammu South, Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh (SC), Akhnoor (SC) and Chhamb.