Article 370 abrogation: Delimitation to booths, all processes in place for polls

He had said the EC would take into account the weather, security concerns and other elections before deciding the dates.

Then on October 9, while announcing elections to five states, the CEC was again asked when the J&K elections would be held. He replied that the EC would hold the elections at an “appropriate” time.

With the Supreme Court now setting a September 30, 2024 deadline for holding the elections, the EC can either decide to hold it along with the Lok Sabha elections, or later in the year. Due to J&K’s cold winter, elections are usually not held from November till March-end.

Waving a booklet on Article 370 outside the Supreme Court on Monday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

The delimitation of constituencies of the new Union Territory was completed in May 2022. After that, the electoral roll was revised based on the new constituencies, first in November 2022 and then again this year. Now, as a part of the Special Summary Revision of the electoral roll of the entire country, the updated electoral roll of J&K will be published on January 5, 2024.

Senior EC officials have begun their reviews for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On October 31, a review meeting was held with the North Zone officials, including from J&K.

Another factor being addressed is the reservation of seats based on the recommendation of the Delimitation Commission. While the government had introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in Parliament in July, it was passed by Lok Sabha on December 6, and by Rajya Sabha on Monday. The Bill empowers the L-G to nominate two members from the community of Kashmiri migrants, one of whom should be a woman, to the Assembly — as the Delimitation Commission had recommended.