J&K Assembly elections after Lok Sabha polls: CEC
The muchawaited elections for the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly will be held after the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducts the Lok Sabha polls, scheduled to end in June, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Saturday.
“We are very conscious about this. Allegations have been levelled against us (for not holding Assembly elections).
ECI CLARIFICATION
“When we went there, people told us that they had to go to the Supreme Court to impress on the
ECI to hold elections. We have been asked why we are not holding elections. I want to clarify this,” Kumar said in response to a question.
Kumar said the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed in 2019, which mandated 107 Assembly seats with 24 seats reserved for Pakistanoccupied J&K (PoK). Of the remaining 83 seats, seven were reserved for SC and none for STs.
DELIMITATION
“In 2022, the Delimitation Commission came and its reports were notified. The number of Assembly seats increased to 114. Of these, 24 were again for PoK and of the remaining, nine are reserved for STs. Besides, two seats have been reserved for migrants, of which one is for a woman. One seat will be nominated for those displaced from PoK. Since the Reorganisation and Delimitation Act were not insync, there was no occasion for the Commission to conduct elections. The sync happened in December 2023 by amending the Reorganisation Act,” he added.
All political parties in J&K told the ECI to hold the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections at the same time. However, the administrative machinery said that simultaneous elections cannot be held as the security forces will not be adequate to provide security to the candidates for both polls, Kumar explained.
“So as soon as the Lok Sabha elections are over, we will hold the Assembly elections in J&K,” the CEC said.
During these hard times of elections, which will be held in the heat of summer, the INDI Alliance is a good source of entertainment, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Speaking at a function organised by a private YouTube channel, Sitharaman said that the Opposition has the singular agenda of ‘removing Modi’. Instead, they could come up with a constructive narrative, telling people what they intend to do to make India a superpower.
The function was held on the occasion of Chanakya TV completing five years.
“Whom we vote to power this time will determine whether India will become a developed country or not,” she said, observing that those undertaking a ‘Nyay Yatra’ never explained what injustice had been done to anybody.
Turning to Tamil Nadu, she said it was “cowardice” not to express outrage against statements equating Sanatana Dharma with dengue and malaria.
Sharing the stage with the Finance Minister were two BJP partners in Tamil Nadu, GK Vasan of the Tamil Maanila Congress and TTV Dhinakaran of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam.