J&K top brass meets EC officials over possible dates for state polls

Top officials of the Jammu and Kashmir administration are learnt to have met Election Commission (EC) officials on Friday to discuss the possible dates of Assembly polls in the state.

The meeting took place days after the three special observers appointed by the EC submitted their report on the possibility of holding Assembly polls in the state.

Official sources said the "full commission" comprising the chief election commissioner and two fellow commissioners will meet here on April 30 to discuss the possible dates of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.

The state chief electoral officer had met the deputy election commissioner concerned on Thursday, ahead of Friday's meet.

On March 10, when the EC had announced the schedule for the ongoing Lok Sabha election, it had said the polls to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will not be held simultaneously.

It had cited the law-and-order situation in the state for delaying the Assembly polls.

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

The Centre and the state administration, being managed by the Centre-appointed governor, are against holding the two elections together.

However, all political parties in the state spoke in favour of simultaneous polls during a meeting with the EC earlier this week.

The six-year term of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was to end on March 16, 2021, but it got dissolved after the ruling coalition between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell apart.

The other state assemblies and the Lok Sabha have five-year terms.