New Delhi: The Election Commission has announced that Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls in three phases on September 18 and 25 and October 1.
The results will be declared on October 4.
Polls in Haryana would coincide with the last phase of elections in J&K.
The EC’s announcement of a presser today to announce the schedules of unspecified general elections to legislative assemblies had led to speculation on whether Jammu and Kashmir would finally have polls. The previous assembly elections were held in the now Union Territory in 2014, when a coalition of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janata Party formed the state government.
The Supreme Court had earlier ordered that the Union Territory should have elections by September 30 this year. The EC’s dates go beyond the court’s direction by a few days.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the poll body found enthusiasm in J&K when it went to do a ground assessment there. He addressed the presser with with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sandhu.
The EC said J&K will have 87.09 lakh voters this time. Around 3.71 lakhs will be first-time voters. The UT will have 90 assembly constituencies.
The final electoral roll will be published on August 20, a day after the Amarnath Yatra ends.
Twenty six special polling stations were established to cater to the Kashmiri migrant voters in various parts of the country in the last Lok Sabha polls, the EC said.
Maharashtra and Haryana had gone to the previous assembly polls together. The Maharashtra government’s tenure is till November 28 and Haryana’s, till November 3.
The EC has curiously said that it is decoupling the Maharashtra election, “Keeping the necessity of security forces and also recent rains in Maharashtra in addition to upcoming festivals like Ganesh Chaturvedi, Diwali, etc.”
