J&K Elections Well Within Time Period: CEC

New Delhi- Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Friday said the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir are being held “well within the time period” and will be completed in time against the backdrop of the September 30 deadline set by the Supreme Court to hold the democratic exercise in the union territory.

Addressing a press conference here to announce the schedule for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana, he said after the parliamentary polls concluded on June 4, the poll panel waited for the completion of the Amarnath Yatra on August 19. The notification for the first phase in Jammu and Kashmir will be issued on August 20, a day after the Yatra concludes.

Kumar said the Election Commission also had to keep in mind the weather in the union territory.

Voting for the last phase will be held on October 1 and the counting will be held on October 4.

“There is no way one could have gone exactly on the day, which is 19th (August 19). We are not giving even half a day when one could have started. And it is well within time period and it will be finished in time.

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“So, it is not a day here and there which is important. What is important is that we go by the spirit … the amendments to the J&K Reorganisation Act in terms of providing reservations came in December 2023. So the period started ticking for the Commission to start it only in December 2023. Then came the parliamentary elections. So we are not delayed at all,” he explained.

Last December, the Supreme Court directed the poll panel to hold the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30.

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