Even though the Election Commission of India (ECI) has not initiated any exercise to conduct maiden assembly elections in the Union Territory, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir BJP is hopeful that the panel would announce the poll schedule for this region.
BJP J&K chief Ravinder Raina said the party is ready for polls and is hopeful that the Election Commission of India will announce the poll schedule soon for J&K.
"BJP is ready for assembly elections in J&K. We want ECI to announce the election schedule soon for J&K," Raina said during a public outreach program in South Kashmir's Kulgam district.
Raina further said that it was high time to announce assembly elections for the Union Territory of J&K and there was no reason for delaying the poll.
He said the people of J&K have pinned their hope on BJP due to the people-friendly and poor-friendly politics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"During the last nine years, Prime Minister Modi-led government took multiple people-friendly initiatives which include housing for poor, free health cards, farmer-friendly measures, the establishment of sports stadiums, educational institutions, colleges & universities and augmentation of the health sector," Raina said.
ECI skips J&K while initiating the election process in poll-bound states
A letter written by the Election Commission of India to different poll-bound states is a clear indication that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is not on its list for conducting elections soon.
On June 2, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has written a letter to five poll-bound states namely Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Mizoram but the name of Jammu and Kashmir is not figured in the list.
The ECI has written a letter to the chief secretaries of these states in January 2024 but the process has already started for these states.
"The Commission has been following a consistent policy that officers directly connected with the conduct of elections in an election-going State/ UT are not posted in their home districts or places where they have served for a considerably long period. Hence, the Commission has decided that no officer connected directly with elections shall be allowed to continue in the present district (revenue district) of posting. if she/he is posted in her/his home district", the letter of ECI reads.
Important to mention here that amid criticism of opposition parties for delaying the maiden assembly elections in the J&K Home Minister Amit Shah has recently said that call on the date and timing of polls will be taken by the Election Commission of India.
In an interview with a news agency, Union Home Minister said that the process of preparation of the voters' list is nearing completion in the Union Territory. "Now, the Election Commission has to take a call on elections in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
Special summary revision going on in J&K
Important to mention here that the special summary revision-2022 culminated with the publication of the final electoral rolls in the UT on November 25, 2022, the process of continuous upgradation is going as any eligible citizen who has been left out of the electoral roll can apply through any of the modes of registration, i.e. Online through NVSP portal, Voter Helpline APP, Voter Portal or Offline by making an application to the ERO concerned.
The completion of the exercise will pave the way for holding elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This would be the first election in the UT after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of J&K into two Union Territories by the BJP-led NDA government in August 2019.
After the completion of the delimitation exercise in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission of India ordered pre-revision activities in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir on 10th June 2022, which primarily included the task of mapping the existing electoral rolls of 83 pre-delimitation constituencies to the post-delimitation 90 Constituencies, in accordance with the Delimitation Commission's Order, rationalization of polling stations and integrations of the electoral rolls.
