Election Commission meets J-K officials on polls

EC sources say that while state Chief Secretary S S Kapur and Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda were confident of the bandobast for the elections, the former, in his presentation, also strongly pitched for creating conditions conducive for a “credible voter turnout in the elections”.

“More than the timing of the elections, it’s important that various political parties should be taken on board, especially when the Hurriyat is bent on playing the spoiler in the elections,” EC sources quoted the J&K officials as saying. “State officials feel that political mobilisation is as important as an early election in the state,” the sources added.

This particular view has also been articulated by the Congress and the National Conference when they met the EC top brass on Tuesday. Others like the BJP have stressed more on an early election in the state.

Apart from the three election commissioners and the two state officials, state chief electoral officer B R Sharma was also present at the meeting.

Later, the EC had a meeting with Home Ministry officials led by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta. MHA sources said that “more such meetings could be held if needed”.

The EC is said to be in favour of an early election. The tenure of the Assembly was to end on November 20, but after the imposition of Governor’s rule, the commission must complete the election process by January 10. The EC, according to sources, wants to complete the process before the onset of winter in the state.