Assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir after nearly a decade in three phases from September 18, setting the stage for the people of the union territory to elect a government after the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019.
The Election Commission of India also announced that elections to the 90-member Haryana assembly will be held on October 1 and results for both the polls will be declared on October 4.
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The three-phase elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told a press conference in the presence of Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.
Kumar said assembly elections in Maharashtra, which were held along with Haryana in 2019, will be announced later due to security requirements for Jammu and Kashmir.
He said four elections are due this year and by early next year and since Jammu and Kashmir was not in the picture last time (2019-20) the Commission decided to group two assembly elections together.
Besides Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana, elections are due in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi.
Kumar said the next set of elections will be announced after the completion of the polls in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana.
While 24 seats will go to the polls in the first phase in Jammu and Kashmir, elections will be held in 26 seats and 40 seats in the second and third phases respectively.
The last assembly elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir in November-December 2014 in five phases.
The announcement by the Election Commission comes months after the Supreme Court upheld the Centre's decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir's special status and directed that Assembly elections be held by September 30.
Congress, CPI (M) welcome ECI’s announcement
Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress and CPI (M) on Friday welcomed the announcement of the assembly polls by the Election Commission and said people were eagerly waiting for the restoration of democracy in the Union Territory.
"Better late than never," Pradesh Congress Committee senior vice-president Ravinder Sharma told PTI reacting to the announcement by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.
He said the people in Jammu and Kashmir were waiting for the assembly elections for the past six years after the fall of the PDP-BJP government in June 2018.
"Though we were pressing for restoration of full statehood before the holding of assembly elections, the announcement by the Election Commission is a welcome step and we are hopeful that the commission will ensure level playing field and adequate security without any discrimination," said Sharma, who is also the Congress’ chief spokesperson.
He also hoped that the Election Commission would look into the massive reshuffle in the police and civil administration ordered in the Union Territory on the day of the announcement of polls.
"There should be no unnecessary transfers and if such a thing had happened, the Election commission should take appropriate action," the Congress leader said.
Senior CPI (M) leader M Y Tarigami also welcomed the announcement of polls.
"It is welcome that after a long time the Election Commission has announced the schedule for elections to the assembly. We also welcome the statement of the EC that it will be a full democratic exercise by ensuring level playing field to all parties and contestants besides sufficient security for candidates and votes as well," Tarigami said.