Assembly polls to be held as soon as possible after LS election: CEC
Srinagar: The Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted in five phases with voting in each of the five parliamentary constituencies of the Union Territory to be held in each phase, according to the poll schedule announced by the Election Commission on Saturday.
The Lok Sabha polls will be held across the country in seven phases beginning from April 19 and the counting of votes will take place on June 4 for the world’s biggest election exercise in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bid for a third consecutive term.
The Udhampur Lok Sabha seat in the Jammu region will go to polls on April 19 in the first phase. The notification will be issued on March 20 while March 27 will be the last date for filing nominations. The last date for withdrawal of candidature will be March 30.
Voting for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat will be held on April 26 in the second phase of elections. The notification will be issued on March 28 and April 4 will be the last date for filing nominations. April 8 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature.
The Anantnag constituency, which spreads across the Pir Panjal range and includes Rajouri and Poonch areas after delimitation, will go to polls on May 7 in the third phase. The notification will be issued on April 12 and April 19 will be the last date for filing nominations. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 22.
For the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat in the Kashmir region, polling will be held in the fourth phase on May 13. While the notification will be issued on April 18, the last date for nomination filing is April 25. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 29.
After delimitation, Pulwama and Shopian districts have been added to the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency while two assembly segments — Budgam and Beerwah — have been deleted.
Baramulla constituency in north Kashmir will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of elections. The notification will be issued on April 26 while May 3 will be the last date for filing nominations. The last date for withdrawal of candidature will be May 6.
The Ladakh Lok Sabha seat spread over Kargil and Leh districts will go to polls in the fifth phase of polls.
A total of 86.93 lakh voters, including 42.58 lakh women and 161 people of third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise in Jammu and Kashmir. Nearly three lakh voters form the electorate for the Ladakh seat.
Meanwhile, the Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir will be held after the Lok Sabha polls as organising both simultaneously is not viable from the security point-of-view, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said.
Asked why Assembly polls are not being held in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Lok Sabha election, the CEC said forces have to be provided to every candidate in the Union Territory, which is not possible at a time when elections are being held across the country.
He also said the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was amended in December 2023 after a delimitation exercise and the clock had started ticking for the Election Commission (EC) since then.
“The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed in 2019. There was a provision for 107 seats, 24 of which were in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Then the delimitation commission came and there was a change in the seats…. The Reorganisation Act and delimitation were not in sync. That happened in December 2023. So our meter started running from December 2023,” Kumar said.
“All parties in Jammu and Kashmir said the assembly election should be held with the parliamentary polls, but the entire administrative machinery 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 forces. It was not possible at this time,” the CEC added.
“But we stand committed that as soon as these elections are over, we will hold elections there,” he asserted.
