Jammu and Kashmir, without an elected government since 2018, is currently administered by the Centre’s appointee, Lieutenant Governor (L-G). In December last year, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct the Assembly polls in the Union Territory by September 2024.
Kashmir News: An elderly woman voter shows her ink-marked finger after casting her vote during phase 5 of the Lok Sabha polls in Baramulla on Monday.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has indicated that the record voter turnout in the Srinagar and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies might prompt the early scheduling of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
“The highly successful conduct of polls with impressive turnout in Srinagar and Baramulla gives the Election Commission the confidence to hold Assembly polls in J&K at the earliest,” CEC Kumar told the Indian Express on Monday.
Srinagar witnessed a record 38 percent voter turnout in the May 13 polling. This marked the highest voting percentage in the constituency since the 1996 general elections when 41 percent of voters exercised their franchise. Similarly, the Baramulla parliamentary constituency recorded a 59 percent voter turnout during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on May 20, the highest since the 1984 general elections.
Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government since 2018. In December 2023, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India to conduct Assembly polls in the Union Territory by September 2024.
CEC Kumar’s remarks suggest that assembly elections in the erstwhile state could be held soon after the Lok Sabha 2024 elections.
Top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders hailed the high voter turnout in Kashmir, attributing it to the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. However, leaders from the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have argued that the high turnout opposes the decision of August 5, 2019.
The BJP has not fielded candidates in any of Kashmir’s three parliamentary seats. Anantnag-Rajouri, one of the three parliamentary seats in Kashmir, will vote in the sixth phase on May 25.
After delimitation, the J&K assembly has 90 seats. The last assembly elections in J&K were held in November-December 2014. The election to the 87-member house saw the PDP winning 28 seats, the BJP securing 25, and the NC winning 15 seats. The PDP and BJP formed a coalition government, with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as chief minister. After Sayeed’s death in January 2016, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti took over as chief minister.
In June 2018, the BJP withdrew its support to the PDP-led government, leading to the imposition of Governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir. In August 2019, Article 370, which granted special status to J&K, was abrogated, and the state was divided into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
