Talks on for May-June or Sept-Oct polls
Govt wants high number of addl CAPFs
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 16: Three Special Observers of the Election Commission today held hectic meetings with all four Advisors to Governor and top officials of civil and police administration including the Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary and Director General of Police among others to assess requirement of additional number of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) as they weighed options of conducting Assembly elections either in May-June or in September-October.
Noor Mohammad, AS Gill and Vinod Zutshi, three Special Observers appointed by the Election Commission for conduct of Jammu and Kashmir elections met all four Advisors to the Governor including K Vijay Kumar, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, KK Sharma and K Skandan this afternoon for detailed assessment of the security situation, election preparedness and other aspects of the prevailing scenario in the State.
“The Election Observers had nearly an hour long meeting with all four Advisors and took their view point on various aspects of the situation and timing when the Assembly elections can be held in the State,” official sources told the Excelsior. However, they said, the discussions were held in closed-door.
Advisor Incharge Home Department K Vijay Kumar briefed the Special Observers on security situation and preparedness of the Government for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
Prior to meeting with the Advisors, the Special Observers had detailed strategy session with top officials of civil and police administration including Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh, Additional DGP Armed Javed Geelani and Additional DGP Security and Law & Order, Muneer Khan.
“The administration was not averse to the Election Commission’s proposal for conducting Assembly elections in May-June but wanted specific number of additional para-military companies,” sources said, adding that the civil and police officials projected their requirements on security front and also gave detailed account of factors including month of Ramzan, tourist season, Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra from July 1-August 15 for which deployment starts a fortnight before and heat wave in plains, which could impact the voting turnout.
Some of them were reported to have briefed the Election Commission’s Special Observers that the months of September and October were best suited for the elections as large number of para-military companies will be free from Shri Amarnath Ji yatra duty then and the tourist season will also be over.
Significantly, Additional DGP (Law & Order and Security), Muneer Khan, who had met the Election Observers yesterday along with Deputy Commissioners and SSPs and this morning with the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police, was again called by the Observers for another meeting tonight that lasted about an hour.
Sources privy to the discussions between the Special Observers and top brass of the State Government said the Election Commission wanted to assess preparations of the Government especially the security agencies for holding Assembly elections in May-June. Not opposing the Commission’s proposal, the State officials projected their requirement for additional companies, which was very high, and suggested months of September-October as ideal for the Assembly polls.
The Special Observers will conclude their four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow and return to New Delhi where they will brief the Election Commission of India on assessment of the situation, feedback obtained from the State Government officials and possibility on conduct of Assembly elections.
“The Election Commission will take a final call on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections shortly. The Commission could take one more opinion from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs before taking a decision on the Assembly polls,” sources said.
On March 10, the Election Commission had announced five-phase Lok Sabha elections for six Parliamentary seats of the State but deferred the Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, DGP Dilbag Singh today directed cancellation of leave of all police personnel except those sanctioned on medical grounds, child care or study purposes in view of requirement of manpower for Parliamentary polls.
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