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Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has signaled that the record voter turnout in the Srinagar and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies in the Lok Sabha poll 2024 may prompt assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) at ‘the earliest.’
“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.
Also Read: Kashmir News: BJP will contest on all 90 assembly seats of J&K, says Amit Shah in Srinagar
Similarly, the Baramulla parliamentary constituency recorded a 59 per cent voter turnout during the polling in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on May 20. This is the highest since the 1984 general elections when the seat in north Kashmir saw about 61 percent voter turnout.
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 UT by September 2024.
CEC Kumar's signal could mean assembly elections in the erstwhile state soon after the Lok Sabha 2024 elections.
Top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders hailed the ‘encouraging’ voter turnout in Kashmir seats, attributing it to the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. However, leaders from the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – the two regional parties - have said that the high voter turnout is against the decision of August 5, 2019.
The saffron party has also 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.
Last J&K Assembly Polls in 2014
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 bagging 25, and the NC winning 15 seats.
The PDP and BJP formed the government, with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed becoming the chief minister. Sayeed passed away in January 2016. His daughter Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in as the next chief minister of J&K.
In June 2018, however, the BJP withdrew its support to the PDP-led government and the Governor's rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir.
In August 2019, Article 370, which granted special status to J&K, was abrogated, and the erstwhile state was divided into two Union Territories- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
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