EC to examine whether model code can be imposed in J& K immediately

The Election Commission will examine whether the model code of conduct can be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir even before fresh elections are announced there, a senior official said Wednesday after the governor dissolved the state assembly.

The poll panel had recently decided that in states where assemblies are dissolved prematurely, the model code will come into force immediately.

The poll code, which bars the caretaker government and the party in power from taking policy decisions, otherwise comes into force the day polls are announced by the EC.

Telangana was the first state where the model code of conduct had come into effect before the assembly polls were announced.

"Model code was imposed there (Telangana) as the elected government had dissolved the assembly. Here (Jammu and Kashmir), the case is different. Here the assembly could have been dissolved out of compulsion... There was no government ... We will examine in the coming days whether the model code can be imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, too," the functionary explained,

In a sudden development, the Jammu and Kashmir governor tonight dissolved the state assembly, which has been in suspended animation, shortly after rival alliances staked claim to form the government.

Governor's rule was clamped in Jammu and Kashmir on June 19 for a six-month period following the collapse of the PDP-BJP coalition government after the saffron party withdrew support.

The state assembly was also kept in suspended animation so that political parties could explore the possibility of forming a new government.