India's top poll officials meet J&K political parties, likely to announce assembly election dates soon

The Election Commission of India (ECI) held meetings with the national and regional political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday (Aug 8). The Chief Election Commission (CEC) along with members are visiting the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for a two-day visit. They also met up with the top security officials from Jammu and Kashmir police and paramilitary forces.

Political Parties like BJP, Congress,National Conference(NC),Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)and others met up with the CEC and were hopeful that the elections would be held in Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible.

Sources in the government say that the election commission will most likely announce the election dates for the Union Territory as the Supreme Court of India had given a deadline of conducting the pollsin Jammu and Kashmir before September 30.

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Jammu and Kashmir will witness elections after a gap of ten years as the last assembly election held was in 2014. The delegation from the NC also met the CEC and was hopeful that the poll officialswould announce the election dates soon.

"We have told them that they have visited many times till now but now they need to come up with a decision. We also told them that it's been ten years since assembly elections have taken place here. The LG cannot run the government ever. The government should be run democratically and people in the UT are facing a lot of problems due to that, and they need to hold elections soon. We should get a level playing field and there should be no bias. The officers should not be posted for their benefit. We are very hopeful that all the formalities have been completed and I don't see any hindrances. We are hopeful that the elections will be held before September 30,"said Nasir Aslam Wani, NC leader.

Meanwhile, PDP leaders say that it's time for ECI to announce dates as they have had multiple visits to Jammu and Kashmir previously.

"We had a very healthy discussion with CEC about holding elections in the UT. We told them that around one crore tourists have visited the JK, the parliamentary elections were held and the Amarnath Yatra has taken place peacefully. Now what is stopping them from holding elections? In parliament, the PM and HM both said the situation has improved, then what is stopping them from holding elections? The people have no one to go to as it's run by an administration who have no idea about the people's issues. This is very unfair that we have not been given our basic rights. We just hope this is our last meeting before the elections now," said Khursheed Alam, seniorleader of PDP.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leaders in Kashmir Valley have also supported the idea of holding elections in the UT as soon as possible. They will be meeting the ECI and demanding the same.

"BJP today apprised the CEC of the preparedness for the assembly elections. We also gave them the suggestion to hold elections as soon as possible. The central government should hold the elections before September 30. We are very hopeful, and Jammu Kashmir will see a democratic government very soon. I am hopeful that the notification will be released soon,"said R S Pathania, BJP spokesperson.

The Indian National Congress Party leaders also met with the CEC and pushed for the assembly elections in the UT.

"We have given a memorandum that we are ready to fight elections. We hope that elections will be held before the deadline. I hope elections will be held but that will be decided by the CEC. We have asked them that it should not be deferred any more,"said Ravinder Sharma, senior vice president ofCongress.

On August 9, the ECI team will meet with top officials, including the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, before heading to Jammu for further discussions with enforcement agencies and holding a press conference.