Election Commission observers to visit Jammu and Kashmir

The three special observers appointed by the Election Commission to suggest as to when Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir can be held, will visit the state soon.

While announcing the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections on Sunday, the poll panel had said that Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir cannot be held simultaneously due to security concerns flagged by the Centre.

The three observers -- Noor Mohammed, Vinod Zutshi and A S Gill -- Tuesday met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and fellow commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra.

The task cut out for the observers entails assessing the situation of Jammu and Kashmir on real time basis to enable the poll panel take a call on holding Assembly elections in the state.

"During the meeting it was requested to the observers that they may kindly visit the state at the earliest...," an Election Commission statement said.

Since the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has been dissolved, the Election Commission is bound to hold fresh polls there as well within a six-month period, which will end in May.

While there was a view that the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections can be held along with the Lok Sabha polls, but complex security situation in the state given the heightened tension along the India-Pakistan border titled views against it.

While the Centre and the state administration, being managed by the governor, were against holding the two elections together, all political parties there favoured simultaneous polls during a meeting with the Election Commission earlier this week.

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly's six-year term was to end on March 16, 2021, but it got dissolved after a ruling coalition between the PDP and the BJP fell apart. The other state Assemblies and the Lok Sabha have five-year terms.