Amir Tantray
Jammu, Aug 10: Since the Election Commission of India (ECI) made it clear that time is right for holding Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the schedule for these elections may be announced from August 21 to 25.
The ECI, as per the sources, has kept August 25 the upper limit to announce the elections in this Union Territory.
The Supreme Court has given a deadline of September 30 to hold elections in this UT which is without an elected government for the last six years whereas last Assembly elections were held in 2014.
Highly placed sources said that ECI is waiting for the August 20 deadline of publication of final electoral rolls and till then the security meeting regarding availability of forces will be completed and schedule will be announced in between August 21 and 25.
“It is expected that a four-phase election to 90 seats of J&K may be announced where several issues including movement of forces from one extreme to another extreme will be kept in mind,” said a source.
After concluding its two-day visit yesterday the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar had sent positive signals of holding elections in J&K without any further delay and has sent a strong message to adversaries that ECI will not delay because there are some security related issues.
People of Jammu and Kashmir are also eagerly waiting the ECI to announce the schedule so that they can get rid of bureaucratic setup and put in place an elected government.
