The Election Commission of India on Friday will meet top officials of the Jammu and Kashmir government and its representatives in the state to discuss the possibility of holding assembly elections there.
The meeting was scheduled to be held on April 25, but the unavailability of one of the officials meant the meeting was postponed by a day.
The meeting is being held in the wake of a report submitted by three special observers.
The top officials from Jammu and Kashmir who are likely to attend the meeting are state Chief Secretary B.V.R. Subhramanyam, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shailendra Kumar, Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra and Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh. The meeting would also be attended by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora; both Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandera would join the meeting, according to reports.
The Election Commission would also take into account the opinion of the Union home ministry about fixing dates for the assembly polls.
The meeting will take a call on whether to hold the assembly election in June, or after the Amarnath Yatra begins on July 1 and concludes on August 15 or in November-December when the nomadic Bakerwals of Jammu return home to Kashmir and Kargil.
The difficulty in holding the election in June is the fact that there is less time available between Eid on June 5 and deployment of security forces in preparation for the Amarnath Yatra from June 15.
The three observers had suggested three options to the Election Commission. These options are holding the polls in the period between Eid and the Amarnath Yatra, between September and October and between November and December, like the polls held in 2008 and 2014, when nomads also return to the plains from the upper reaches and can cast their votes, which would increase the voter turnout.
At present, there are 450 paramilitary companies deployed for Lok Sabha polls in the state; the same number can be used for assembly polls in June and for the security of the Amarnath Yatra after the polls.
Holding elections in June will provide less time between Eid and the start of deployment of security forces for the Amarnath Yatra pilgrimage. Parts of Jammu also experience very hot temperatures in June.
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was dissolved by Governor Satya Pal Malik on November 21, and elections in the state need to be held within six months after the dissolution of the assembly—before May 21, 2019.
The PDP-BJP government collapsed in June 2018, and after six months of governor's rule, the state came under direct president's rule on December 19, 2018, which will expire on June 19. If the new government is not in place by then, the Centre would have to extend president's rule.
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