Call on LS, Assembly polls before Mar 10
Will take MHA’s assessment on return to Delhi
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 3: Full Election Commission of India will be on two-day visit of Jammu and Kashmir beginning tomorrow holding consultations with all national as well as regional registered political parties and top officials of civil and police administration on conduct of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the State in the wake of disturbed conditions in the aftermath of Pulwama attack followed by Indian airstrikes at Balakote in Pakistan and heightened tensions on the borders.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shailendra Kumar told the Excelsior that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora and two Election Commissioners including Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra besides other top officials of the Commission would review all aspects of the situation and election arrangements during their two-day visit to the State.
“The full Election Commission will meet representatives of 10 political parties including seven national and three regional and officials of civil and police administration separately in Kashmir and Jammu regions on March 4 and 5 respectively before returning to New Delhi,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, official sources said, the Election Commission could take a decision on conduct of both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the State on March 6 in New Delhi before announcing schedule for general elections, which is expected on March 7 or 8. With announcement of the elections, the Model Code of Conduct will come into force.
The Election Commission will meet representatives of seven recognized national and three regional parties separately in Kashmir and Jammu regions on March 4 and 5 respectively. The political parties invited for the meetings with the Commission are BJP, Congress, BSP, CPM, CPI, NCP and TMC (all national), National Conference, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Nationalist Panthers Party (NPP), all regional. Only those political parties, which are recognized with the Election Commission either at national or state level, have been called for the meeting.
At both the places, the Election Commission will meet the concerned Divisional Commissioner and all Deputy Commissioners to take their view point on security situation and election preparedness. Two Deputy Commissioners of Ladakh division will join the meeting at Srinagar along with the DCs of Kashmir division, sources said.
In Jammu on March 5, after meeting political parties and officials, the Commission will also call on Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam and Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh to take their assessment of the situation.
“Conduct of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, deferring Assembly polls, holding general elections for six seats of the State, deployment of para-military forces and police and militancy-related situation will be high on agenda of the Election Commission,” sources said.
After return to New Delhi, the Election Commission was expected to take fresh assessment of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir from the Ministry of Home Affairs before announcing its decision on conduct of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, jointly or separately.
The Commission has twice taken opinion of the MHA on conduct of elections including requirement of additional number of para-military forces in Jammu and Kashmir for holding the polls simultaneously and the companies which the MHA can spare as it has to spread forces all across the country for general elections besides Assembly polls in four States including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
Sources admitted that it was an uphill task to hold simultaneous elections for Parliament and Assembly in view of disturbed conditions in the Valley and borders. Even conduct of elections to three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir would also be a tough task and would require number of additional companies of para-military forces. The Central Government had recently dispatched 100 extra companies of para-military to the Valley.
Jammu and Kashmir has six Lok Sabha seats including two in Jammu region, three in Kashmir and one in Ladakh. Jammu and Ladakh regions are completely peaceful and the problem was confined to the Valley only. During 2014, elections for six seats of Lok Sabha were held in five phases.
Last year in October, November and December, the State Government had conducted elections to Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies after a long time. The elections were violence-free.
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