Election Commission team reaches Jammu to assess LS poll preparedness in J-K

Officials said the Election Commission team arrived in Jammu on Wednesday afternoon and began holding meetings with senior officials of various law enforcement agencies.

The team will also meet Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and Director General of Police R R Swain before addressing a press conference later in the day, they said.

There has been a growing demand among the political parties in Jammu and Kashmir that the Election Commission should hold assembly polls here simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls or immediately after the general elections.

Meanwhile, police detained National Panthers Party (NPP) chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh along with his several supporters after they tried to stage a protest outside Nirvachan Bhawan here against the “delay” in holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Despite being a recognised political party, we were not allowed to meet the visiting Election Commission team in Srinagar yesterday at the behest of the BJP,” Singh told reporters while being whisked away by police.