EC announces 3 phase polls from Sep 18, counting on Oct 4
Srinagar, Aug 16: In a landmark decision, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the schedule for the first-ever assembly elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar revealed on Friday that the polls will be conducted in three phases, commencing on September 18, 2024.The announcement comes just two days after the Ministry of Home Affairs conveyed its readiness for the elections to the poll body. This swift action underscores the significance of these elections for the region’s political landscape.
These elections mark a crucial step in J&K’s democratic process following its transition to a Union Territory in 2019. The three-phase approach is designed to ensure smooth and secure polling across the diverse regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
In the first phase of polls, 24 assembly constituencies will go for the polls while in phase-II, 26 ACs will go for the polls on September 25. In the third phase, 40 assembly constituencies will go for the polls on October 01.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir are being held “well within the time period” and will be completed in time against the backdrop of the September 30 deadline set by the Supreme Court to hold the democratic exercise in the union territory.
He said after the parliamentary polls concluded on June 4, the poll panel waited for the completion of the Amarnath Yatra on August 19. The notification for the first phase in Jammu and Kashmir will be issued on August 20, a day after the Yatra concludes.
Kumar said the Election Commission also had to keep in mind the weather in the union territory.
The CEC further said 90 assembly constituencies are there in J&K of which 74 are general and 7 are Scheduled Caste and 9 seats belong to ST category people.
So far, Jammu and Kashmir has a total of 87.9 lakh electors of which 44.46 are male and 42.36 lakh are female voters,” he said.
The CEC informed that the final electoral rolls will be published on August 20, a day after the Amarnath Yatra will conclude. He said that there are 11,838 total polling stations in J&K.
“Location wise, there are 9169 locations. It is a predominantly rural area as far as polling stations are concerned. There are 360 model polling stations,” the CEC said.
“People were there to participate in the polling. There was a belief over cynicism. There was a thriving political participation in the polls and intense campaigns. There is a bit of change in the security situation as well,” the CEC said.
“What we want to do is to strengthen the layers of democracy.” He said that they expect there would be more voters this time. “We hope to see women participation and also youth participation as well. There should be vigorous campaigning as well.”
The CEC said that they saw a great enthusiasm in Lok Sabha polls and there is a yearning for strengthening the democracy. “We met every one in J&K and all of them wanted early polls,” Kumar said, adding that “In J&K, long queues reflected the power of democracy, they were not just long queues but peoples’ hopes and people scripting their own history. People had a message that they were in the queue not to vote only but to demonstrate a desire that democracy flourishes in this area.”
He said, “People of J&K wanted to write about their future themselves. People wanted to be part of the change and write their fortune. This was purely a triumph of ballot over bullet. Valley rejected violence and raised their voice through vote. They choose ballots over bullets.”
“Every section of the society must get a chance to participate in polls. We have relaxed form M for migrant voters. Self-attestation is there for the migrant voters. During the LS elections, there were no re-polls and overall elections were incident free.” The CEC said that there was a seizure of Rs 100 Crore seizure of drugs/liquor.
