New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the schedule for the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and Haryana. Addressing a press conference here, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said the elections in the erstwhile state of J&K will be held in three phases.
The polling for the first phase will be held on September 18. The polling for the second phase will be held on September 25 and the voting for the third phase will be held on October 1. The votes will be counted on October 4.
He also said that Haryana would go to polls on October 1 and the counting would be held on October 4.
"We took stock of the situation for the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. All of them(stakeholders) wanted to have polls as early as possible," the CEC said.
"Everybody wanted to participate and prove a point. This is a triumph of ballots over the bullets. The (Kashmir) valley has rejected violence," the CEC asserted, referring to the long queues in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir. "There would be more voting and we also hope that there will be more women voters this time. The (election) campaign can be held without fear," he added.
"We want to focus on youth as ambassadors of our elections. On August 19, the Amarnath Yatra will get over and on August 20, the electoral roll will be published," the CEC added.
"There are 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir, of which 74 are in the general category while 7 and 9 are reserved for SC and ST respectively," he added. According to CEC, there will be 11, 838 polling stations in Jammu and Kashmir.
In Haryana, there are 90 Assembly seats and the electoral roll will be finalised and published on August 27. "There are 20,629 polling stations in Haryana - of which 7,132 polling stations in urban areas and 13,497 in rural areas," he said.
"All the polling stations will be covered by CCTVs," the CEC said. Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were seated, flanking the CEC at the time of the announcement.
"We are going by the spirit of the electorate. We are not delayed at all," Rajiv Kumar said referring to the Supreme Court directives of completing elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30. "We are ready for the challenge," the CEC said. The CEC also said that Assam, Bihar and all state by-elections will be conducted together.
Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government since June 2018, when the previous PDP-BJP administration ended following the BJP's withdrawal of support to Mehbooba Mufti. Initially, President's Rule was imposed for six months, which was subsequently extended after the BJP-led government abrogated Article 370 and reorganized Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. Since August 5, 2019, the region has been governed by a Lieutenant Governor and a single advisor.
