New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the dates of much-awaited elections in Jammu & Kashmir.
Assembly polls will be held in Jammu & Kashmir next month, for the first time since 2014, along with Haryana, in what will be the first national-level electoral exercise after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Voting in J & K will be held in three phases – on September 18, September 25 and October 1, while Haryana will vote in a single phase on October 1.
Counting of votes for both states will take place on October 4.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said there was great enthusiasm among people in J & K and they wanted to participate in the poll process.
“People want elections to be conducted there as early as possible… The long queues at the polling booth in J & K during Lok Sabha elections are proof that people not only want change but also want to raise their voices by becoming a part of that change. This glimpse of hope and democracy shows that the people want to change the picture. They want to write their own destiny,” the CEC said.
A month earlier, the Central government widened the scope of J & K lieutenant governor’s powers from police and public order to postings and prosecution sanctions – a decision condemned by the Opposition which called it as a step to render the J & K chief minister “powerless” and disempower the region’s people.
On Friday, the authorities announced a major reshuffle in J & K police and administration hours before ECI announced poll schedule.
