No simultaneous Lok Sabha, Assembly polls for J&K: Chief Election Commissioner

New Delhi, Mar 16: Jammu and Kashmir will not hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said Saturday, as the Election Commission of India announced dates for the general election and four state polls.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi to announce the Lok Sabha polls schedule and 4 state assemblies, CEC Rajiv Kumar said that only 4 states will go simultaneously to polls along with Lok Sabha and there will be no assembly polls in J&K.

He said that assembly polls will be held in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh along with the Lok Sabha polls.

"The Lok Sabha polls will begin from April 19 and will be held in 7 phases. He said that counting of votes will be held on June 04," he said.

He also said that polls to 5 Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in 5 phases and only one J&K constituency will go to polls in each phase.

According to Election Commissioner of India the first phase will be held on April 19, second on April 26, third on 7th May, 4th on 13th May, 5th on 20th May, 6th on 25th and 7th on June 01.

Across J&K, there are nearly 87 lakh voters, including 3.4 lakh who will exercise their franchise for the first time. As many as 11,629 polling stations will be set up for them.