Now when the Election Commission of India will be visiting Jammu and Kashmir for a second time this year to assess the preparations for the legislative Assembly polls in the Union Territory , there is a little bit of excitement that may be this time Commission will live up to its word of holding polls soon. In March this year, the ECI had ruled out simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in J&K because of the security reasons – Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar was told by the administrative machinery and the security agencies that it was not possible for them to provide security to all candidates in the simultaneous poll scenario . And since the security forces were required across the country because of the parliamentary polls , the ECI went ahead with the Lok Sabha polls in J&K, putting Assembly polls on hold for some time.
Perhaps that was a sensible decision in the given situation as a multi-layered security is required during the polls in J&K and that was not possible at that particular time when the whole country was going into polls along with Assembly polls in four states – Odisha , Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
In all elections in the past in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has played its role. It is not a question whether it is admitted or not, this is a fact and a fair analysis would remind the politicians and others that how did previous polls in J&K left a Pakistani footprint .There was a deliberate attempt to overlook this factor because there was a make-believe narrative coined by all the concerned .
Pakistan never wanted a genuine democratic exercise to take place . It resorted to three kinds of strategies – ( a) upping violence with guns and grenades and attempts to assassinate candidates , ( b) it activated its terror groups and separatist conglomerates to give poll boycott calls , seeking legitimacy in the less voting percentage due to the scare it caused among the electorate , ( c) manipulating the political discourse even among the pro-electoral parties in which necessity to take Pakistan on board for Kashmir solution was placed on priority , and along with there was another discourse to grant more sovereign space to the state within the Indian union ; it was not necessarily as per the provisions of the ( now scrapped ) Article 370 of the Constitution , but also involvement of the ideas floated by the west and Islamic countries in the internal written and unwritten manifestoes.
The ECI was quite enthused after it witnessed huge participation of the people in the April- May Lok Sabha polls in three Parliamentary constituencies in Kashmir and felt encouraged to announce that it would be holding polls soon . The CEC propelled it to the level of the commitment , and now the time has come for him and the rest of the Commission to redeem their pledge . The visit from August 8 to 10 holds some hope and promise that it may take a call on the polls , and with reference to J&K, the definition of polls is about the Assembly elections
Till date , since the last elected government was made to quit by the BJP in June 2018 , the ECI has played a hide-and-seek games . It is fond of inventing deadlines and then skipping the same. It has been averse to adhering to its own words.
The ECI has a tough task ahead . Much of the scene that it had witnessed and which was made basis by the UT administration and security agencies to unequivocally say “ No” to the simultaneous polls, is still there except the prospects of simultaneous polls.. The security situation is grappling with new challenges in Jammu region , which was taken for granted in this region when Lok Sabha polls were held . The challenges on security front in the Valley have not diminished either.
What remains to be seen is whether the ECI would adhere to the deadline of September 30th set by the Supreme Court on December 11, 2023 or jump it . The primary responsibility on this count lies with the UT administration and the security agencies.
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