Six months enough to prepare for Assembly elections in J&K: CEC OP Rawat

Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat on Friday suggested the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir may be held within six months. Speaking to news agency ANI on the development in Jammu and Kashmir, the CEC cited a Supreme Court ruling, which called for elections to be held within six months if Assembly is dissolved.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that whenever such dissolution takes place, commission should hold elections on first occasion and in no case later than six months,” said Rawat, adding that six months is “good enough” for making preparations to hold the Assembly elections in a satisfactory manner.

He further said, “For commission, six months is good enough for getting preparedness at satisfactory level. Law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir will also be kept in mind.”

The Chief Election Commissioner further said that the polling body was informed about the dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly by Governor Satya Pal Malik on November 21.

“Now commission will have to gather all other facts relating to the state. Next week we'll deliberate upon as to how should we go about planning for elections to that house,” said Rawat.

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was dissolved by the state Governor on Wednesday, soon after Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti declared that she would stake claim to form government with the support of its traditional arch rival, the National Conference, and the Congress party.

The parties launched a scathing attack on the Governor and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the dissolution of the Assembly, calling it undemocratic and unconstitutional. The Governor, however, defended his decision, claiming that the government formed by the alliance of the three parties would not have provided a stable government in the state.

On their part, the PDP, the National Conference and the Congress questioned the timing of the decision. They said that they had been demanding dissolution of Assembly for the past five months, but the same wasn’t done. They alleged that their coming together had given jitters to the BJP, which allegedly orchestrated the dissolution of the Assembly.