Election Schedule Announcement Expected at 3 PM - Jammu and Kashmir to See Elections After 10 Years
In Short:
- Election Commission of India (ECI) to announce assembly election dates at 3 PM today.
- The press conference will be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
- Election schedules for states like Haryana, Maharashtra, and possibly Jammu and Kashmir are expected.
- Jammu and Kashmir elections, if announced, will be the first since 2014.
- The terms of the assemblies in Haryana and Maharashtra end in November, while Jharkhand’s term ends in January 2025.
- Jammu and Kashmir, last having elections in 2014, was reorganized into Union Territories in 2019 after Article 370 was abrogated.
- The Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, has reviewed the preparations in Jammu and Kashmir, emphasizing the commitment to hold elections soon.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to reveal the schedule for upcoming assembly elections at 3 PM today, Friday, August 16. The announcement will take place at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, during a press conference.
The press invite, however, did not specify which states' election schedules will be announced. The current terms for the legislative assemblies in Haryana and Maharashtra are nearing their end, with Haryana's term expiring on November 3 and Maharashtra's on November 26. Additionally, the Supreme Court has set a deadline of September 30 for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, making it likely that dates for these states could be part of today’s announcement.
The Election Commission has already visited Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana to assess their readiness for the polls but has yet to visit Maharashtra.
Assembly elections are also due in Jharkhand, with the current assembly's term set to expire in January 2025.
If elections in Jammu and Kashmir are announced, it will mark the first assembly elections in the region since 2014. In 2019, the central government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, revoked Article 370, which led to the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Since then, assembly polls in the region have been delayed due to various factors, including a delimitation process completed in 2022.
Recently, a delegation from the Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, visited Jammu and Kashmir to review poll preparations. During a press conference held there, Kumar assured that the Commission is dedicated to holding the elections as soon as possible, despite any internal or external challenges. "We are committed to conducting polls in Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest and we will not let any internal or external forces derail the election. All political parties in Jammu and Kashmir are batting strongly for holding assembly elections as soon as possible," Kumar had emphasized.