CEC: J&K Assembly poll process to kick off soon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 25

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Saturday said the poll panel would soon initiate the process for holding the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking to mediapersons after casting his vote during the sixth phase of polling in the national capital, he said, “The turnout in the Lok Sabha poll in J&K has been heartening. They deserve their government and we will initiate the process for holding the Assembly elections very soon.”

On March 16, while announcing the schedule for the Lok Sabha poll, Rajiv Kumar had said the Assembly elections in the union territory could not be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections from the security point of view. “The Election Commission stands committed to holding the Assembly poll in J&K soon after the Lok Sabha elections,” Rajiv Kumar had said.

The Assembly elections in J&K will bolster the government’s standing on the global stage, especially with the West being critical of it over the increasing hiatus in the democratic process. It will also allow Prime Minister Modi to position himself as a champion of democracy and his re-election after the Lok Sabha poll may set the stage for pushing ahead with bold steps like resuming talks and trade with Pakistan.

In a recent interview, talking about the Opposition’s “strategy” against him, the Prime Minister had said that the idea is to “humiliate India globally and to stop Modi’s victory because if Modi wins, he will become senior-most among all elected governments of the world, among all true democratic governments”.

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