The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election is set to be delayed by a few months. The Election commission on Wednesday cancelled its prescheduled visit to the State for review of election preparedness following the flood situation in the State.
“Following floods, the EC has decided to postpone the visit. The date of the next visit will be announced later,” a senior EC official said. The poll official said that the EC has not yet taken a call on whether to postpone the Assembly elections following the calamity.But in the given situation he indicated that the poll schedule for the State likely to be announced later this month could be delayed as relief and rehabilitation measures are still underway. Almost 200 people have died in the state’s worst floods in 60 years.
The full Commission was to visit the state for two days beginning Wednesday to take stock of the poll preparedness ahead of the Assembly elections. The term of the state Assembly ends in January 2015. The revision of rolls is currently on and is expected to be over by the first week of October.
In the last elections, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed seven-phased polling. The full Commission — the Chief Election Commissioner and two fellow Election Commissioners — have already carried out review meetings in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand where Assembly polls are due.While EC may go ahead with announcement of poll schedule for Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana shortly, the schedule for Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir may follow later.