With Jammu and Kashmir not going for simultaneous assembly polls with the Lok Sabha election, the decision on holding polls in the state is likely to be taken by the next government that is formed at the Centre.
The Election Commission, which announced the schedule of LokSabha elections on Sunday, had said that it will be taking inputs from allnecessary quarters and a “decision on holding assembly elections will betaken soon”. It appointed a committee of three experienced SpecialObservers to assess the situation.
Analysts said it is unlikely that assembly elections in thetroubled state would be announced before the results of Lok Sabha elections aredeclared on May 23.
The poll process needs to be completed before the end of sixmonths of President’s rule, which was imposed on December 20 last year. Giventhat the new government will be only in office for a few days by June 19, it islikely to decide in favour of extending the President’s Rule.
Questions have been raised, however, that if securityconsiderations were the reason behind not holding simultaneous elections, thenhow was the Election Commission going to conduct the Lok Sabha polls.
All political parties, including the state unit of theBharatiya Janata Party, had supported the idea of simultaneous polls.
While the BJP later welcomed the poll panel’s decision inview of security considerations, the delay in holding assembly polls came underheavy criticism from opposition parties with former Chief Minister OmarAbdullah stating that it is the “first time since 1996 that assemblyelections were not being held on time”.
Among the reasons cited by the poll panel for not conductingsimultaneous polls is that of providing security to the contesting candidates.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar hassaid that if an estimated 900 candidates are in the fray for the state’s 87assembly constituencies, it will require substantially higher requirement ofsecurity forces.
It is not the first time that a decision againstsimultaneous polls has been taken by the Election Commission. Since militancybroke out in the state, simultaneous polls have never been held in Jammu andKashmir.
The last time this happened was in 1967. Since then, therehave been three instances when elections to elect MLAs and MPs were held in thesame year — but not simultaneously — in 1977, 1996 and 2014.
The Election Commission had said on Sunday that severalfactors including logistics and availability of central forces were reasons fornot holding assembly and Lok Sabha polls together.