The Election Commission will on Monday issue notification for the first phase of polling in 24 Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, which will be the first electoral process in the Union Territory since the poll dates were announced last week.
Jammu and Kashmir, which last held Assembly polls in 2014, will hold elections in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1 in 90 Assembly seats. Results are expected to be declared on October 4.
The Election Commission will also publish electoral rolls or the updated voters’ list today in the run-up to the Assembly polls.
Political parties are expected to release their first list of their respective candidates in a day or two.
Of the 24 Assembly constituencies going to polls in the first phase, 16 of them fall in the Kashmir Valley and eight in the Jammu region.
There are 26 and 40 seats in the second and third phase of polling in Jammu and Kashmir and voting will be held on September 25 and October 1.
This will be the first Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the erstwhile state was stripped of Article 370 that granted special status and bifurcated into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in 2019.
Since 2019, Jammu and Kashmir has been governed as a Union Territory, with key powers resting with the Lieutenant Governor, limiting the authority of the elected Assembly.
In 2014, the BJP and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) formed a coalition government, with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed becoming the Chief Minister. After Sayeed’s death in January 2016, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti succeeded him following a brief period of Governor’s Rule.
In June 2018, the BJP withdrew its support for the PDP-led government, leading to the dissolution of the state Assembly by then-Governor Satya Pal Malik in November of that year. Since then, Jammu and Kashmir has not had an Assembly.
In December 2019, while hearing petitions challenging the scrapping of Article 370, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30, 2024, and also urged the central government to restore statehood at the earliest.
