ECI Announces Poll Schedule For 5 States, Jammu Kashmir Again Not In List
As the Election Commission of India(ECI) on Monday announced the schedule for legislative assembly elections in five states, it has again skipped Jammu and Kashmir.
The ECI has announced schedule for five states including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana.
The ECI said the decision for Assembly polls in J&K will be taken at the right time keeping in view of security.
However, the ECI didn’t clarify when asked about reasons that are holding the ECI back in announcing Assembly polls in J&K.
On August 15, 2019, the Central government abrogated Article 370 and Article 35A and bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir UT with a legislature and Ladakh UT without a legislature. Since then the central government promised to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir but no polls are being held in J&K.
This year on March 6, National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah led a delegation of all political parties to the Election Commission of India, asking it to fulfill its constitutional obligation to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The panchayat elections and elections to other PRIs cannot be a substitute for legislative assembly elections, and the government and, for that matter, the ECI cannot avoid and delay assembly elections on that ground. Had it been so, there would be no need to conduct assembly elections in states,” the memorandum presented to the ECI reads. The memorandum didn’t yield any results and ECI continues to delay polls.
