A team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a meeting with political parties to review the preparedness for assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. The meeting will start shortly as the politician starts turning up at Sher- i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar. The poll officials sought feedback from political parties ahead of the announcement of the election schedule.
Representatives of various political parties, including the National Conference (NC), People's Democratic Party (PDP), BJP, Congress, and Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party arrived at the SKICC to meet the ECI team, the officials said.
Several senior officials of police and civil administration, including J-K Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole, also arrived at the SKICC, they said.
Earlier, the team led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar arrived in Srinagar this morning.
Jammu and Kashmir election commission officials had on Tuesday issued letters to various political parties, inviting them for a meeting with the ECI.
The political parties have been given time slots for the meeting with the Election Commission.
Kumar is accompanied by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu.
The poll panel will also review the preparations with election officers and police superintendents of all districts, as well as the chief secretary and the director general of police.
The three-day visit will culminate on August 10 at Jammu where the ECI will take a review meeting with enforcement agencies. It will also hold a press conference in Jammu to brief the media on the review process.
Earlier in March this year, Kumar -- who was then the sole member of the three-member Commission to visit the Union Territory -- had assured political parties and the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the poll panel would soon hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
At that time, the two posts of Election Commissioners were vacant. They were filled days before the Lok Sabha polls were announced on March 16. Besides meeting the political parties, the Commission will also review the situation with the chief electoral officer and the central forces coordinator.
