Elections 2019: J&K Gears up for General Elections, Assembly Polls Given Wide Berth

In Jammu and Kashmir, assembly elections will not take place along with the Lok Sabha elections, said Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Sunday.

For the first time since 1996, assembly elections will not take place on time in J&K. Arora said that a team of three members will be constituted later to analyse the security situation for holding assembly elections.

Polls for six Lok Sabha seats in J&K will occur in five phases. Due to the chances of law and order situation in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, polls will be held in three phases.

While speaking to reporters, Arora said that Election Commission has visited several places in the state, and has met political parties and government officials to discuss the security measures. Considering the strength of the forces and the recent cross-border tensions, assembly elections cannot be held now, it was reported.

Reactions

Soon after the announcement, the former CM and vice president of National Conference, Omar Abdullah, tweeted: “What happened to @rajnathsingh’s assurance to Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha as well as to the all-party meeting recently in Delhi that all forces would be made available for simultaneous polls?”

In a series of tweets, he termed the decision of not holding assembly election in J&K as “surrender to Pakistan, to militants and to the Hurriyat”.

“It’s worth remembering that since 1995-96 Pakistan, militants & separatist have always tried to ensure elections don’t take place in J&K. Successive governments since H.D. Deve Gowda have ensured all attempts at disruption fail,” Omar tweeted.

He added, “PM Modi has surrendered to Pakistan, to the militants & to the Hurriyat. Well done Modi Sahib. 56-inch chest failed, #slowclap.”

J&K secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) {CPI (M)} Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami said the announcement by the Election Commission of India (ECI) has disappointed the people of J&K in general.

In a statement, Tarigami said that this was done even as almost all the political parties had urged the Election Commission to hold both the elections simultaneously.

“The chief election commissioner, during his presser in Delhi, repeatedly quoted the recent incidents of violence in Kashmir as the reason for not holding Assembly polls,” said Tarigami. “If that is true, then how could the Lok Sabha polls be held? Even the J&K governor recently said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi complimented him for “successful” conduct of the civic elections in Jammu and Kashmir. When these polls could be held, what is the logic for deferring assembly polls?” he questioned.

“Jammu and Kashmir are without an elected government for the past nine months, and in the absence of an elected government, uncertainty in the state is deepening day-by-day and dissatisfaction among a large section of the people is increasing,” he added.

Tarigami said that only effective response to this situation would have been holding assembly and Lok Sabha polls simultaneously.

“There are chances that delay in holding assembly polls will hamper the process of improvement in the situation,” said Tarigami.

ECI Advisory

ECI has issued an advisory in which all the political parties are directed not to use photographs of any defence personnel in their advertisements for the elections.

In a letter issued by ECI on March 9, 2019 to all the national and local political parties, ECI stated that the Ministry of Defence has brought to the notice of the commission that the photographs of the defence personnel are being used by the political parties in advertisements as part of their election propaganda.

“ECI observed that armed forces of a nation are the guardians of its frontiers, security and the political system and are apolitical and neutral stakeholders in a modern democracy. “It is, therefore, necessary that the political parties and leaders exercise great caution while making any reference to the Armed Forces in their political campaigns,” the advisory read.

The Commission is of the view that photographs of chief of army staff or any other defence personnel and photographs of functions of defence forces should not be associated with or used in any manner in advertisement/propaganda/campaigning or in any other manner in connection with elections by political parties and candidates.

Polls Schedule of J&K:

J&K has six Lok Sabha constituencies, three in Kashmir, two in Jammu and one in Ladakh.

The first phase of polls will take place on April 11. During phase I, two constituencies are going to polls: North Kashmir constituency comprising Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipore districts, and Jammu constituency comprising Samba, Rajouri, Poonch and Jammu districts.

During the second phase which will take place on April 18, two segments will go to polls in Kashmir: Central Kashmir constituency comprising Budgam, Srinagar and Ganderbal districts. In Jammu, the Udhampur segment will go to polls with Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar, Kathua, Reasi and Ramban districts.

Polls in South Kashmir constituency will take place in three phases.

On April 23, polls will enter its third phase in which only Anantnag district from South Kashmir will go to polls.

In phase IV, on April 29, only Kulgam district will be polling for the same seat, while in phase V on May 6, Shopian and Pulwama districts will cast their votes.

In Ladakh, which has two districts – Leh and Kargil – will go to polls in the fifth phase.

Possibly, this will be the only Lok Sabha election in Kashmir’s history when for one Lok Sabha seat, the polling will be held in three phases.

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