Asserting that elections in Jammu and Kashmir would be held “soon” to “uphold the principles of democracy”, the chief election commissioner Sunil Arora Monday assured the mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir that their concerns regarding holding of polls in the state “would be taken care of”.
An official spokesman said the CEC gave a patient hearing to the concerns of political parties.
After its meetings with political parties, the ECI team, which arrived here this morning, held a marathon meeting with the civil and police administrations, including divisional commissioner Kashmir Baseer Ahmad Khan, additional director general of police (law and order) Muneer Ahmad Khan, Kashmir range inspector general of police Kashmir, Swyam Prakash Pani, deputy commissioners and district police chiefs of Kashmir and Ladakh divisions.
“Elections are soon going to be held to uphold the principles of democracy. The commission desires that these elections should be the most inclusive with absolute neutrality by people involved in organising them. Holding election in any part of India is a challenge because of various factors such as topography, population density, holidays etc.,” Arora said in his opening remarks.
The ECI team reviewed the state of preparedness of various departments of the civil and police administrations for “ensuring free and fair elections”. The commission asked the state authorities to provide “minimum assured facilities at polling stations and ensure that voters are able to reach the stations without any fear or hindrance”.
The CEC also reviewed the preparedness in terms of transportation of EVMs and polling material to the booths and deployment of staff on the day of the election.
The commission asked the state authorities to mobilise people and create “inducement-free and intimidation-free atmosphere by ensuring sufficient number of security persons on ground”.
“The commission stressed on the state authorities to ensure that the expenditure by candidates during the election process is monitored to prevent any illegality. The limit of expenditure is Rs 70 lakh for LokSabha election and Rs 28 lakh for state assembly election,” deputy election commissioner, Sandeep Saxena said, adding that action should be taken against those “indulging in inducement and illegal gratification to voters”.
The commission asked the state administration to conduct operations on EVMs and VVPATs in presence of stakeholders such as political parties and candidates to ensure transparency. “You should share location of strong-rooms with stakeholders/parties/candidates to prevent any suspicion.” Saxena said.
The ECI team left for Jammu this evening where they will be conducting a similar exercise on Tuesday.
The team will be also meeting the chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam and director general of police Dilbag Singh separately in the winter capital. Before winding up their visit, the ECI team is scheduled to address a press conference at Jammu on Tuesday evening.