J&K Assembly Elections: Exact poll dates after final security requirement review in Delhi, says CEC Rajeev Kumar

JAMMU — Keeping the suspense as to when the J&K Assembly polls will be held very much alive, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, Rajiv Kumar, on Friday said that the exact election dates will be announced once the Commission conducts the final security requirement assessment in Delhi. He, however, said that the ECI is committed to holding Assembly polls in J&K at the earliest and small attempts to disrupt the polls can’t derail the democratic process.

Addressing the press conference in Jammu, the CEC, as per the news agency KNO, said that they don’t want to see a “chicken-and-egg” situation in J&K in the wake of some terror attacks in the Jammu region.

“Our forces are capable of dealing with the situation. We will not allow these small attempts to derail the election process in J&K,” he said. “As far as the exact dates, we will conduct a final security requirement assessment back in Delhi and announce the poll dates accordingly,” he said while keeping the suspense alive about the exact dates of polls in J&K.

He said that the political parties of J&K are on the same page, as all of them want early polls. “The feedback we got from the security heads, officers from the administration and the district police chiefs is that though there are a few security challenges, they are ready for the peaceful elections in J&K,” the CEC said.

The CEC, who was flanked by two Election Commissioners, said that he had come here earlier in connection with the Lok Sabha polls. “In May 2022, after the delimitation of J&K was done, the J&K Reorganisation Act was passed in the Parliament in December 2023. Soon after that, we started the process of holding elections in J&K,” he said.

He added, “Lok Sabha polls are over, and Amarnath Yatra is still on. The people of J&K scripted history by participating in the polls in record numbers. The world and the people of India hailed the participation of women and youth in large numbers.”

He said the political parties he met in Srinagar and Jammu hailed ECI for the peaceful Lok Sabha polls, and they also put forth some demands, like polling booths should be within a radius of two kilometres and there should be CCTV coverage of polling. “We have told them that both these demands have been met and instructions in this regard have been passed as well,” he said.

Replying to a query that there was an SC deadline of September for holding polls in J&K, the CEC said that no internal or external force can delay polls in J&K. “People of J&K will give a befitting response to disruptive forces,” he said. “We have in mind the SC directions.”

He said that political parties demanded a level playing field and streamlining of the security cover of politicians. “We have taken note, and it will be ensured that there is a level playing field and a security review of politicians so that they carry out their activities normally,” the CEC said.

He said that another demand was that polling stations shouldn’t be clubbed at the last minute and “we will ensure no polling booth is clubbed except for a few for geographical reasons.”