Election commission has no date for J&K polls, to be held when 'appropriate'

The election in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted when the Election Commission of India (ECI) thinks it is the appropriate time, keeping in mind the other elections in J&K and the security situation in the union territory.

“The decision to be taken at the right time as per the security situation (in J&K) and other simultaneous elections in the state,” said chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar at the press conference to announce the schedule for assembly elections in five states — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram.

The Union government had informed the Supreme Court in August that it was ready to conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir at any time, with solicitor-general Tushar Mehta maintaining that the process of updating the voter list was almost over.

Earlier this year, though the ECI has been silent, Jammu and Kashmir’s chief electoral officer stated that panchayat, municipal and Lok Sabha elections would all be held "this financial year".

On Sunday 8 October, the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference and Congress together won 22 seats in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Kargil elections, the first polls to be held after Ladakh became a Union Territory following the abrogation of article 370 of the Constitution. The National Conference (NC) won 12 seats, making it the single largest party, while Congress emerged victorious in 10 seats.

J&K has been without an elected government since June 2018 after the BJP pulled out of the coalition with Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party. The legislative assembly was dissolved in November 2018 by then governor Satya Pal Malik after Mufti staked her claim to form the government.

The last assembly election was held in 2014. After Article 370 was abrogated in August 2019, the state was split into two union territories, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.