Election Commission to visit J&K today

Srinagar, Aug 7: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, to assess the preparations for the forthcoming assembly elections.The two-day visit, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, comes as the Supreme Court’s September 30 deadline for holding elections in J&K approaches.During their stay, the Election Commission team would engage with political parties, Deputy Commissioners (DCs), Superintendents of Police (SPs), and various other officials, including the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and the Central Forces coordinator.They would also review the preparedness with the Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and the Director General of Police (DGP) Rashmi Ranjan Swain,The itinerary of the Election Commission includes stops in both Srinagar and Jammu, and a news conference is planned to update the media on the election preparations.This visit follows the ECI’s recent directive to the J&K administration to transfer officers posted in their home districts, a standard pre-election procedure.These assembly elections would be the first since the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganisation of the erstwhile state into two Union Territories in 2019.J&K has been without an elected government since June 2018, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support from Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party-led government.