EC visits over, J&K, Haryana may go to Assembly polls together

J&K, which has been without an elected House for five years now, is also due for polls since the Supreme Court, while upholding the abrogation of Article 370 in December last year, set a deadline of September 30, 2024, for holding elections.

In the past, at least for the last three election cycles since 2009, the EC has conducted polls in Maharashtra and Haryana together, given that their terms end within a month of each other. Jharkhand elections were held separately. However, there is precedent of the EC decoupling state polls traditionally held together, and this may be the case this time too.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and his colleagues, Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, were in J&K on a two-day visit (August 8-9) last week to meet stakeholders and assess the poll preparedness. This week, they visited Chandigarh for the same purpose.

According to sources in the state governments of Maharashtra and Jharkhand, no visit by the EC has been scheduled to these two states as of now, indicating that polls there may take place a little later.

CEC Kumar, during the press conference held in J&K last week, had made clear the EC’s intention of holding polls at the earliest. “The time has come to take forward the dreams of democracy you people have seen and shown us by turning up in large numbers and standing in long queues at polling stations during the recent Lok Sabha elections, and to give you an elected government through (Assembly) elections,” he had said on August 9.

Following the visits to J&K and Haryana, a meeting was held with Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Wednesday to discuss the EC’s demand for security personnel for J&K. Given the security situation in the UT, all candidates would require security cover, leading to an increase in the requirement, sources said. The Assembly elections are also expected to see more contestants, said sources.

According to sources, the EC estimates an average of 15 to 20 candidates to contest from each constituency across the UT. There are a total of 90 seats in the J&K Assembly. It is learnt that the EC has estimated that 16,000 security personnel would be required to provide security cover to all candidates.

The Home Secretary is learnt to have agreed to the EC’s demands related to security cover.