Assembly polls in J&K to be held “at earliest possible”: CEC

Jammu, Mar 13:  Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar Wednesday stated that assembly elections in J&K would be held “at the earliest possible”, and decision about their simultaneous conduct with parliamentary polls would be made after taking into account (gathered) inputs of all stakeholders, including political parties and considering “security complications and implications.”

In the same breath, he, while refuting the charge of “delay in conduct of assembly polls in J&K” by political parties and others, asserted that there was no delay on the part of Election Commission of India (ECI).

He said that ECI was equally concerned about the assembly as well as parliamentary elections in J&K and they would be held as early as possible, in a free, fair manner in a terror-free situation.

He said that ECI was fully conscious of its responsibility to ensure that there should be no political vacuum in J&K.

CEC, joined by J&K Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P K Pole and other senior officials of Election Commission of India, was addressing a press conference here, while winding up their 3-day visit to review poll-preparedness in J&K.

ON POSSIBILITY OF SIMULTANEOUS ASSEMBLY AND LOK SABHA POLLS

Responding to the most anticipated question vis-a-vis simultaneous parliamentary and assembly elections in J&K, he said that both elections would be held very soon yet maintained suspense as to whether they would be held concurrently.

“When I was giving a presentation to you, I dealt with both assembly and parliamentary (electoral) data. I've given complete bifurcation of both. We are equally concerned about the assembly as well as parliamentary elections,” he said.

At this point, CEC also used the opportunity to respond to posers related to delay (by ECI) in taking calls regarding assembly polls in J&K.

Kumar asserted that there was no delay on the part of ECI on this account, as was being alleged by political parties and others.

"Yesterday, many political parties, like you, had questioned as to why the Election Commission took so much time and why they (political parties) needed to go to the court to get a deadline of September (30 for J&K assembly polls). I'm also answering those questions here using your medium. As you are aware, J&K's Reorganisation Act came into being in 2019. In that Act, there were 107 assembly seats, out of which 24 were reserved for Pak-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK). Out of remaining 83 seats, seven seats were for Scheduled Castes and for Scheduled Tribes, there was nil seat. In 2022, the process of delimitation was set into motion here. Obviously, there was no question of holding elections that time,” CEC said.

He explained that when the delimitation process was completed, the number of seats increased from 107 to 114 in assembly. Excluding seats reserved for PoJK, the number of 83 seats rose to 90 in (J&K) assembly. There were two other changes - one nine seats (out of 90) were reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

"So, there was dissonance between the Reorganisation Act and the delimitation. That (conflict between the two) was to be resolved and that happened in December 2023 when J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2023 was brought. By virtue of which (assembly) seats were raised from 107 to 114 i.e., 90 after excluding PoJK seats; provision for extra reservation of nine seats (for ST). Besides, two more amendments, as per the directions of Delimitation Commission, were made i.e., one - reservation of two seats for migrants, out of whom one should be a woman and second provision was for nomination of one Displaced Person (DP) from PoJK,” Kumar explained.

Here CEC’s reference was to the amendment which provides to insert new sections 15A and 15B in the Act so as to “nominate not more than two members, one of whom shall be a woman, from the community of “Kashmiri migrants” and one member from “Displaced Persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir”, to the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Thus, the Reorganisation Act, after the acceptance of the Delimitation Commission was changed in December 2023. This is March, 2024.  We had just three months. So, there's no delay on our (ECI) part,” he added.

CEC said, “We are fully conscious of our duty. We are fully alive to the fact that there should not be any political vacuum and the (assembly) elections should be held at the earliest possible. But mind it, this (removal of conflict) occurred just three months ago. Season has just started. I've presented you data related to both (assembly as well as parliament). Our review (of poll preparedness) was also based on that to explore what could be possible - whether there would be simultaneous parliamentary and assembly polls or they would be conducted with an interval between the two.”

“Whatever will be done - it will be done after taking into consideration the security situation and feedback of all (stakeholders). Then we'll take a call. Whenever this decision is taken, it will be first disclosed to you (media) through a press conference, when we announce polls. But the main point is - We will conduct both polls at the earliest possible. There has been no delay (in the conduct of assembly elections). Delay was on account of change in Act. Our time (to set the process in motion) has started now after December,” he pointed out.

“I reiterate that these (assembly polls) will be conducted as early as possible after we sit together and take a (collective) decision after taking (into account the) inputs of political parties, all the District Magistrates, SPs, IGs, DIGs; the senior officers of J&K government, paramilitary forces. We have taken a feed-back from everybody as to what will be their security requirement. Here there is another tradition or say issue. In J&K, every candidate gets security of two sections. So, we will review as to what are the security complications, implications etc., then we will take a collective call,” CEC stated.

COMPLIANCE WITH SC DIRECTIVE ON MAKING PUBLIC DATA VIS-A-VIS ELECTORAL BONDS

When asked if ECI would comply with the Supreme Court's direction to make data regarding electoral bonds, submitted to it (ECI) by SBI, public by March 15, CEC said that the Commission was in favour of transparency and that was its stand in this case also.

“ECI even in the apex court had reiterated its commitment to absolute transparency. We are in favour of transparency. For ECI, there are only three pillars - Disclosure, disclosure and disclosure. Anything we do with the Commission or anything our District Magistrates (DMs), down the line, in the election process do- is again based on the same pillars (disclosure). We are in favour of transparency - disclose everything to the public, to voters. Voters have a right to know everything as to what we are doing and how we are doing,” Kumar said.

“That is why we end all our visits with the press conferences so that you (media) can ask questions, including like the one related to the credibility of the Election Commission. I reiterate that the Commission is in favour of transparency and that is our stand in the case of electoral bonds as well.”

“SC had ordered State Bank of India (SBI) to give it to ECI by March 12. They had given it to us yesterday in time. I'll go back, look at the data and definitely disclose it in time,” he said.

GOVT (PANEL) TO TAKE CALL.ON APPOINTMENT OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS

When two other Election Commissioners would be appointed, in response to this query, Kumar said that the subject did not come under his domain.

“This is a matter between the appointee (government panel) and (to be) appointed. I'm neither appointee nor (to be) appointed. I hope that they will be appointed well in time. But I cannot give an exact timeline (of their appointments),” he said.

HOW ECI WILL ENCOURAGE MORE YOUTH TO VOTE TO MAKE THIS FESTIVAL OF DEMOCRACY MORE VIBRANT?

CEC said that major emphasis this time was on "Roll to poll" to include more and more youth into electoral rolls to ensure their massive participation in the festival of democracy.

“Once their names are there in electoral rolls only then they can vote. So this time across the country around 1.9 Cr youth voters have been enrolled. We have also ensured to bring in youth (who were not enrolled earlier) in the category of 20-29 in the electoral roll this time. We have 27-28 Cr voters in the age group of 18-28 in our electoral rolls. We are roping in youth as icons, brand ambassadors in colleges and every other place. We are appealing to them; reaching out to them through social media; running awareness campaigns and creating electoral literacy clubs. Besides, the media is our main forum to reach out to the youth. We believe if the youth connect to democracy, only then its foundations will be strong,” Kumar said.

With regard to questions about security and other challenges in different states while conducting elections, he said that this dimension differed from state to state as per their respective peculiar scenario.

“There are differences. In some states, the challenge is about money power, in other states, it will relate to security or interior treacherous areas. At places, there is the LWE (Left-Wing Extremism) problem. Thus, there is no single yardstick of security arrangements. We will provide security forces as per requirement as our priority is to conduct free, fair, terror-free elections,” CEC said.