Election Commission to visit J&K on Aug 8-10 to review Assembly poll preparations

The commission had last visited J&K on March 12 and March 13 to review preparations for the Lok Sabha elections, just days before the general elections were announced on March 16. Usually, elections are announced soon after the full commission’s visit to a state or UT.

Last week, the EC had extended the summary revision of electoral rolls in the other three poll-bound states — Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana — by seven days, but the date of publication of the final roll remained the same as announced earlier for J&K: August 20.

On Thursday, acting on a request from the Chief Electoral Officer, the EC extended the electoral roll revision process for Maharashtra, sources said. The electoral roll for Maharashtra will be published on August 30.

The last Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in 2014, and the Assembly was dissolved in 2018. The upcoming polls will be the first election to the Assembly of the Union Territory of J&K, which was formed in 2019 when the special status of J&K was revoked and the state was split into two UTs. Upholding the abrogation of Article 370, the Supreme Court had last year ordered the EC to hold Assembly elections in J&K by September 30, 2024.

While announcing the Lok Sabha elections in March, the CEC said simultaneous elections to the J&K Assembly could not be held as the administrative machinery of the UT said it could not be done. Providing security to Assembly candidates would have required 400 to 500 additional companies of security personnel, he had said. The Lok Sabha elections saw 58.58% turnout in J&K.