NEW DELHI The Election Commission Tuesday said it will announce the schedule for assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the Amarnath Yatra, which begins next month.
In a statement, the poll panel said it has unanimously decided that “holding of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir shall be considered later in this year”.
The Commission said it will keep monitoring the situation in the state regularly based on inputs from all necessary quarters, and will announce the election schedule after the conclusion of the Amarnath Yatra.
The yatra usually runs from July 2-August 15.
The J&K assemblys six-year term was to end on March 16, 2021, but was dissolved in June 2018 after a ruling coalition between the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party fell apart.
As mandated by the Constitution, the state was brought under the Presidents Rule on December 19, 2018, which will have to be extended for a period of six months on May 19, 2019, or till an elected government is put in place, whichever is earlier.
The MHA opposed the idea of holding assembly polls simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls. The Centre and the state administration, being managed by the Centre-appointed governor, were also against the idea.
However, all political parties in the state favoured simultaneous polls during a meeting with the Election Commission in March this year
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