SRINAGAR, JULY 31: Assembly elections in the State of Jammu and Kashmir are likely scheduled for October, this year.
Sources said, “Elections in Jammu and Kashmir will most likely be held in October. The Election Commission will take the final decision on the matter in coming few days, adding the Centre had “no imminent plans of removing Article 35A in the immediate future.”
While an additional 100 companies of paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the valley, the Centre added that it was part of a routine induction and de-induction exercise.
While the Opposition has repeatedly raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha, home minister Amit Shah had also assured the Opposition that the Centre wanted free and fair elections conducted in Jammu and Kashmir, after the situation was deemed conducive by the EC.
Jammu and Kashmir is currently under President’s rule. The state Assembly was dissolved on November 2018 after the ruling coalition between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) fell apart in June 2018.
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election will be held later this year, the Election Commission had said in June. The poll schedule will be announced after the culmination of Amarnath Yatra, which begins in July. “Election Commission, under Article 324 of the Constitution and other extant laws/rules etc. have unanimously decided that holding of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir shall be considered later this year,” read a statement from the EC. (PTK)