Election Commission announces 3-phase Assembly polls for J&K from Sep 18

Election Commission announces 3-phase Assembly polls for J&K from Sep 18

*Kept our promise of keeping poll schedule shorter: CEC Kumar, Says Lok Sabha polls were triumph of ballot over bullet; Long queues had a message of writing a new future*

Abid Bashir

Srinagar, Aug 16 (KNO): Chief Election Commission of India (CEC) Rajeev Kumar Friday announced three-phased assembly polls for J&K starting from September 18 and counting will be done on October 4.

“We had promised the shortest Assembly poll schedule and we stand by our promise. Elections in J&K will be held in three phases from September 18. Second phase will be on September 25 and third phase will be held on October 3. Counting of votes will be done on October 6,” the CEC Kumar said addressing a press conference in New Delhi as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).

*Total Constituencies/Voters:* The CEC said that there are 90 Assembly consequences of which 74 are general and 7 are Scheduled Cast and 9 seats belong to ST category people. There are 87.9 lakh electors of which 44.46 are male and 42.36 lakh  are female voters,” he said, adding that Amarnath Yatra is concluding on August 19 and final electoral rolls will be published on August 20, a copy of which will be sent to all political parties.

Flanked by the two Election Commisoners—Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, the CED said that are 11838 total polling stations in J&K. “Location wise, there are 9169 locations. It is pre-dominantly rural area as far as polling stations are concerned. There are 360 model polling stations,” the CEC said.

*Changed Scenario after Parliament elections:* “People were there to participate in the polling. There was a belief over cynicism. There was a thriving political participation in the polls and intense campaigns. There is a bit of change in the security situation as well,” the CEC said. “What we want to do is to strengthen the layers of democracy.” He said that they expect there would be more voters this time. “We hope to see women participation and also youth participation as well. There should be vigorous campaigning as well.”

*Lok Sabha polls to set base for Assembly polls:* The CEC said that they saw a great enthusiasm in Lok Sabha polls and there is a yearning for strengthening the democracy. “We met every one in J&K and all of them wanted early polls,” Kumar said, adding that “In J&K, long queues reflected the power of democracy, they were not just long queues but peoples’ hopes and people scripting their own history. People had a message that they were in the queue not to vote only but to demonstrate a desire that democracy flourishes in this area.”

He said: “People of J&K wanted to write about their future themselves. People wanted to be part of the change and write their fortune. This was purely a triumph of ballot over bullet. Valley rejected violence and raised their voice through vote. They choose ballots over bullets.” The CED said: “Every section of the society must get a chance to participate in polls. We have relaxed form M for migrant voters. Self-attestation is there for the migrant voters. During the LS elections, there were no re-polls and overall elections were incident free.” The CEC said that there was a seizure of Rs 100 Crore seizure of drugs/liquor—(KNO)

*Detailed copy in bulletin*

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