Assembly polls in J-K not to be held along with LS polls: EC

Assembly elections will not be held in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Lok Sabha elections due to security reasons, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said Sunday, triggering criticism from the National Conference and People's Democratic Party.

The state has been under Governor's rule after the alliance between the BJP and People's Democratic Party fell apart in June last year.

Arora said considering constraint of availability of central forces, other logistics and recent incidents of violence, the EC has decided to hold only Lok Sabha polls in J-K.

However, the EC's decision was criticised by National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, saying assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are not being held on time for the first time since 1996.

In a series of tweets, he also wondered what happened to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's assurance to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as well as to an all party meeting recently that all forces would be made available for simultaneous polls in the state.

"First time since 1996 Assembly elections in J&K are not being held on time. Remember this the next time you are praising PM Modi for his strong leadership," he tweeted.

"In 2014 we had Lok Sabha elections on time & assembly elections on schedule even after the most devastating floods. Shows how badly the BJP & earlier the BJP-PDP mishandled J&K," Abdullah added.

In another tweet, he said, "With the amount of international attention elections in J&K attract, I never thought PM Modi would be willing to confess his failure on a global stage but we all make mistakes and that was mine."