Army chief reaches Srinagar to review security situation ahead of J-K assembly polls

Srinagar, Sep 12: Amid preparations for the assembly elections, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Thursday reached Srinagar to take stock of the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi is in Srinagar to take stock of the security situation in view of the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The security forces and formation commanders will brief him on the prevailing security situation there," defence officials told ANI.

The Army chief flew in to the capital city of the union territory straight from Jodhpur, where he was attending the Exercise Tarang Shakti.

General Dwivedi met with J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhawan. Lieutenant General MV Suchindra Kumar, GOC-in-C Northern Command and Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, GOC 15 Corps were also present on occasion.

Voting in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases- September 18, 25, and October 1. Vote counting will take place on October 8. The assembly polls are going to be held in the UT for the first time in the last 10 years, and this would also be the first state elections to be held after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

The Army is taking no chances and has planned a change in command only after polls in the third week of October. The present corps commander, Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, would be replaced by Lt Gen Prashant Srivastava.