EC orders for summary revision of electoral rolls in Jammu & Kashmir

The Election Commission (EC) has ordered for summary revision of electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir which haven’t been updated for the last three years.

The revision is mandatory before initiating the exercise for conduct of Assembly polls in the Union Territory (UT) which are due for the last, almost, four years. The EC has directed that the entire exercise of special summary revision shall be completed by October 31, 2022 with final publication of electoral rolls.

The revision of electoral rolls couldn’t be undertaken in J&K due to August 5, 2019 constitutional changes and delimitation exercise. As per schedule announced by the EC, the integrated draft electoral roll shall be published on September 1, 2022.

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According to the poll-body, the claims and objections can be filed between September 1 and September 30 and they shall be disposed of by October 15. The final publication of electoral rolls shall be done on October 31, the schedule states.

Earlier in May, the Delimitation Commission, headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai, recommended massive reconfiguration of Jammu & Kashmir Assembly and parliamentary constituencies.

In its final report, the Commission recommended seven additional Assembly constituencies -- six for Jammu and one for Kashmir -- taking the total number of seats in the UT to 90 from 83 earlier. It increased the number of seats in the Jammu division to 43 from 37 seats earlier, and that in the Kashmir Valley to 47 from 46.

Sources said the EC will take a security review of the situation later this year before taking a final call on holding the much -awaited Assembly polls in the UT. J & K has been without an elected government since June 2018 when the BJP broke its alliance with PDP forcing the chief minister of the PDP-BJP alliance Mehbooba Mufti to resign.

Five months later, on November 28, 2018, then J&K governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the legislative assembly and a month later on December 19, 2018, President Ram Nath Kovind issued a proclamation promulgating President's Rule in J&K under Article 356 of the Constitution of India.

Eight months later, the BJP government abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated J&K into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The delimitation exercise had taken center stage in J&K’s frozen politics as both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had several times in the past two years stated that Assembly polls in the UT will be held only after the completion of delimitation.