The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Saturday said that the much-awaited assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir will be held after the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducts the Lok Sabha elections, which are scheduled to end in June.
“We are very conscious about this. Allegations have been levelled against us (for not holding assembly elections). 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 Pakistan-occupied J&K (PoK). Of the remaining 83 seats, seven were reserved for SC and there were no seats for STs.
“In 2022, the delimitation commission came and its reports were notified. The number of assembly seats increased to 114. Of this, 24 were again for PoK and the remaining are 90. Of the remaining, nine have been reserved for STs. Besides, two seats have been reserved for migrants, of which one is for women. One seat will be nominated for those displaced from PoK. Since the Reorganisation and Delimitation Act were not in-sync so there was no occasion for the commission to conduct elections. The syncing happened in December 2023 by amendment in the Reorganisation Act,” he added.
All political parties in J&K told the ECI to hold the parliamentary and Assembly Elections in J&K at the same time. However, the administrative machinery said that simultaneous elections cannot be held as there will not be an ample number of security forces to provide security to the candidates for both polls, Kumar explained.
“So as soon as Lok Sabha elections are over, we will hold assembly elections in J&K,” the CEC said.