J&K has been without an elected government since Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its support to chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party-led coalition in June 2018
The Election Commission of India had directed the publication by October 25, a mandatory process before election dates could be announced
The first assembly polls post-delimitation and revocation of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)’s semi-autonomous status in 2019 are likely to be deferred further due to a delay in the publication of final electoral roll by a month.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had directed the publication by October 25 as part of a mandatory process before the election dates could be announced. In a notification on Wednesday, J&K’s chief electoral officer said the final roll will now be published on November 25. A draft roll was to be prepared by August 31 before its finalisation.
The notification said that the draft roll will be now published on September 15 and claims and objections to it can be filed between September 15 to October 25.
In May, a Delimitation Commission set up to redraw the electoral constituencies in J&K submitted its final report and paved the way for the assembly polls.
J&K has been without an elected government since Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew its support to chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party-led coalition in June 2018.
Political parties have started preparing for the polls by holding rallies and meetings across J&K, which was also divided into two Union territories in 2019.
Officials said that there are now remote chances of holding the elections this year with the delay in the publication of the electoral roll. Large parts of the Himalayan region become snow-bound from December to March.
In its final order, the Delimitation Commission earmarked 43 seats to the Hindu-majority Jammu region and 47 to Muslim-majority Kashmir as the assembly seats were increased to 90 from 83. Out of the seven new seats, six were allotted to Jammu and one to Kashmir. Jammu earlier had 37 seats and Kashmir 46. Kashmir’s representation was brought down to 52.2% from 55.4% of the total seals. The representation of Jammu has been increased from 44.6% to 47.8%
At an all-party meeting in June last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to restore J&K’s statehood after the elections are held based on the delimitation process. Regional parties wanted statehood to be restored before the delimitation and elections. The Centre rejected the demand.
