With the Delimitation Commission on the verge of completing its exercise in Jammu & Kashmir, the Centre is hoping that assembly polls shall be conducted in the Union Territory along with Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh by the end of this year.
Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will be due before January next year as the term of the Gujarat assembly is expiring on February 18, 2023 and that of Himachal on January 8, 2023.
Sources said while it is for the Election Commission to take a final decision on holding assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the possibility of the poll watchdog tying them up with Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls is not ruled out. “Once the delimitation exercise followed by the revision of the electoral roll for the reconfigured constituencies is completed, the Election Commission can decide on holding polls in Jammu & Kashmir, after getting inputs from the government on the security situation and other matters,” a senior official said.
Government sources said the Centre will stand by its commitment on reviving the statehood of J&K, which will follow after the assembly polls. The Delimitation Commission is currently studying the objections and suggestions received from the public to its draft delimitation proposal and will be holding hearings in J&K next week.
CRPF man killed, 2 hurt in attacks
A CRPF trooper was killed and his colleague critically wounded, while two non-Kashmiri labourers and a medical shop owner were shot at in three terrorist attacks in Kashmir Valley on Monday. These followed Sunday’s attack on two “non-local” men in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district in a stark reminder of a string of terrorist strikes on non-Kashmiris last October.
Escalating terrorist violence could put a spanner in the tourist inflow to Kashmir, which recorded 180,000 visitors this March - the highest in 10 years. The CRPF men came under attack at Maisuma in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk area, barely an hour after terrorists fired at two migrant labourers in Lajurah of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. In the evening, terrorists shot at a medical shop owner in Chotigam of south Kashmir’s Shopian district, police said.
