SRINAGAR: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar Friday stated Election Commission was dedicated to holding assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir on the earliest, however the suspense over ballot dates continued as he underscored that the timeline can be finalised solely after a remaining safety evaluation in New Delhi.
Addressing a presser in Jammu on the concluding day of the EC staff’s go to to J&Okay to evaluate floor state of affairs for conducting polls, the CEC, flanked by commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, asserted that no exterior or inside forces can be allowed to disrupt the democratic course of.
Referring to the latest assaults in Jammu, Kumar stated: “Our forces are well-equipped to cope with the state of affairs. We won’t enable these small makes an attempt to derail the ballot course of in J&Okay.”
The CEC confused that the assaults couldn’t be allowed to create a “rooster and egg state of affairs” with regard to polls. Such assaults have been prone to see an uptick each time there have been talks of holding polls. If the ballot course of was halted due to that — hoping to go forward after an enchancment within the state of affairs — it might be like conceding defeat, he added.
“The suggestions we acquired from safety heads, officers of administration and police chiefs is that although there are a couple of challenges, they’re prepared for making certain peaceable elections,” he stated.
J&Okay has been beneath central rule since June 2018, Elections have been due in 2019, however in Aug that 12 months, Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Structure, stripping J&Okay of its particular standing, and bifurcated it into two UTs. In Dec 2023, SC mounted a Sept 30 deadline for the ballot panel to carry meeting polls in J&Okay.
Addressing a presser in Jammu on the concluding day of the EC staff’s go to to J&Okay to evaluate floor state of affairs for conducting polls, the CEC, flanked by commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, asserted that no exterior or inside forces can be allowed to disrupt the democratic course of.
Referring to the latest assaults in Jammu, Kumar stated: “Our forces are well-equipped to cope with the state of affairs. We won’t enable these small makes an attempt to derail the ballot course of in J&Okay.”
The CEC confused that the assaults couldn’t be allowed to create a “rooster and egg state of affairs” with regard to polls. Such assaults have been prone to see an uptick each time there have been talks of holding polls. If the ballot course of was halted due to that — hoping to go forward after an enchancment within the state of affairs — it might be like conceding defeat, he added.
“The suggestions we acquired from safety heads, officers of administration and police chiefs is that although there are a couple of challenges, they’re prepared for making certain peaceable elections,” he stated.
J&Okay has been beneath central rule since June 2018, Elections have been due in 2019, however in Aug that 12 months, Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Structure, stripping J&Okay of its particular standing, and bifurcated it into two UTs. In Dec 2023, SC mounted a Sept 30 deadline for the ballot panel to carry meeting polls in J&Okay.
