Election Commission of India on Tuesday decided to seek further clarifications from the Ministry of Home Affairs on certain issues before taking a final call on conduct of Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Election Commission comprising Chief ElectionCommissioner, Sunil Arora, and Election Commissioners, Ashok Lavasa, and SushilChandra, met in New Delhi this afternoon to discuss possible dates of Assemblypolls in the state, an official told Greater Kashmir.
After threadbare discussions, the poll-body decided to seek”further clarifications” from the MHA on certain issues relating to the pollsand security arrangements.
“The Commission also decided to seek opinion of an eminentlegal expert in the context of ongoing President’s rule in Jammu &Kashmir,” the official said.
The state is under President rule since 20 December lastyear after six-month long Governor’s rule ended.
The meeting was held days after the J&K governmentopposed holding Assembly polls in June and suggested that electoral exerciseshould be held in November.
The state government representatives had cited the upcomingholy month of Ramadan, Amarnath yatra, tourist season and movement of theBakarwals as some of the reasons for delaying the exercise.
The delay in elections would pave the way for extension ofPresident’s rule in the state. “The six-month President’s rule would end on 19June. So the Centre would need to extendthe President’s rule by six more months if elections are not held before thisdate,” a senior functionary of J&K government told this newspaper.
He said ratification of the extension of President’s rulehas to be done by both Houses of Parliament within two months after itsimposition. “It means that the Parliament would have to approve the resolutionfor extending the President’s rule before 20 August, 2019,” he said.
As per Supreme Court ruling, the ECI has to take steps forconducting elections within six months in case of premature dissolution of theAssembly.
” There is a Supreme Court Judgment which lays down thereshould not be a gap of more than six months for initiation of election processwhen a Legislative Assembly is dissolved premature. This period is expiring on20 May as the Assembly was dissolved on 21 November,” the official added.