The Election Commission on Friday announced the schedule for assembly elections for Jammu and Kashmir. Assembly Elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases; voting on September 18th, September 25th, and October 1st. The counting of votes will take place on October 4.
A delegation of the Election Commission had visited Jammu and Kashmir recently. The Election Commission of India also political parties in Jammu and Kashmir to get feedback on conducting Assembly polls in the Union Territory. The office of the chief electoral officer, Jammu and Kashmir, had issued letters to various political parties, inviting them for a meeting with the Election Commission (EC).
The visit of the three-member EC team led by CEC Rajiv Kumar comes ahead of the September 30 deadline given by the Supreme Court for the completion of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. However, opposition parties, including the National Conference and Congress, have raised concerns that the government might delay the elections in Jammu and Kashmir due to the recent surge in terror attacks.
What SC had said
The Supreme Court in December directed the Election Commission to conduct elections in Jammu & Kashmir by September 30, 2024. The court's ruling was part of the verdict on petitions challenging the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status. The top court took into account the central government's commitment to restoring the statehood of Jammu & Kashmir and emphasized that this should occur as expeditiously as possible.
The Supreme Court said that Article 370 of the Constitution was only temporary and President's power to revoke it still exists. The apex court upheld the Modi government's decision to abrogate Article 370, which bestowed special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and said steps should be taken to conduct elections in the assembly by September 30 next year.
2014 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections
The 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election was held in five phases from November 25– December 20 2014. The results were declared on December 23. Just before the election, Congress broke its alliance with National Conference and contested on all seats in the assembly alone. This was the last assembly election before the territory's special status was revoked and Ladakh separated as Union territory in 2019. In the total of 87 seats constituency, Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Front (JKPDP) won 28 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 25 seats, National Conference secured 15 seats, Congress 12 seats, JKPC 2 seats, CPI(M) and JKPDF 1 seat each, and Independent 3 seats. The PDP and the BJP officially started talks. Both parties had a two-member team to form a Common Minimum Programme (CMP). The new PDP-BJP government took the oath of office on 1 March with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as chief minister for the full term of six years and BJP's Nirmal Kumar Singh as his deputy. This was the first time that the BJP was a coalition partner in the Jammu and Kashmir government.
