Jammu: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar stated that assembly elections in J&K would be held “at the earliest possible”, and decision about their simultaneous conduct with parliamentary polls would be made after taking into account (gathered) inputs of all stakeholders, including political parties and considering “security complications and implications.”
In the same breath, he, while refuting the charge of “delay in the conduct of assembly polls in J&K” by political parties and others, asserted that there was no delay on the part of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
He said that ECI was fully conscious of its responsibility to ensure that there should be no political vacuum in J&K. CEC, joined by J&K Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P K Pole and other senior officials of the Election Commission of India, was addressing a press conference here, while winding up their 3-day visit to review poll-preparedness in J&K.
Responding to the most anticipated question vis-a-vis simultaneous parliamentary and assembly elections in J&K, he said that both elections would be held very soon yet maintained suspense as to whether they would be held concurrently.
“When I was giving a presentation to you, I dealt with both assembly and parliamentary (electoral) data. I’ve given complete bifurcation of both. We are equally concerned about the assembly as well as parliamentary elections,” he said.
The CEC said there are 86.9 lakh voters including 44.34 lakh men and 42.55 lakh women registered in Jammu and Kashmir.
