Elections in Jammu and Kashmir will not be held around October-November as initially predicted—when states such as Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand go to polls.
In fact, it unlikely that Assembly elections will be held in the newly-formed union territory in the near future—at least not till the end of the delimitation exercise.
“The next step will be to conduct the long-overdue delimitation exercise in the region. In such circumstances how can the elections be held in the next three-four months,” said a BJP leader.
Earlier this week—on Monday and Tuesday—the BJP-led Centre took a set of decisions that changed the decades-long status quo in the State-turned-UT, rewriting boundaries and administrative procedures governing it.
Explaining the procedure henceforth, the BJP leader said: “As Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said, elections will be held in the state and people there will get to elect their representatives in a transparent manner.
But elections have to be preceded with the process of delimitation of constituencies. First the government will communicate to the Election Commission to undertake the exercise after which the process will begin. It may take several months, which means elections to the new UT may not happen anytime soon."
"The number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be increased from 107 to 114, and delimitation of the constituencies may be determined by the Election Commission in the manner hereinafter provided," according to the J-K Reorganisation Bill, 2019 cleared by the Parliament.
The Centre has indicated it will soon set up a delimitation commission for the purpose. Meanwhile the Election Commission is understood to be still studying the legal and Constitutional aspects of the development. The main task of the Delimitation Commission is to redraw boundaries of the Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on the recent Census.