"Delimitation First, Then Assembly Polls, Then...": J&K Lt Governor On Statehood

As people await the date for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said on Sunday that, as the Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Parliament, there will be delimitation first, then assembly election and then statehood at the appropriate time.

He added that things are going in that sequence.

"When PM Narendra Modi came to Srinagar on June 20, he announced that elections would be held soon. A team of the Election Commission visited here and met all the stakeholders. The Election Commission will announce the date of the elections. As the Union Home Minister said in the Parliament on August 5, delimitation first, then assembly election, then statehood at the appropriate time. Things are going on in that sequence. I hope the assembly elections will be held soon," LG Sinha said.

The Jammu and Kashmir LG also inaugurated the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre at the University of Jammu today.

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Friday that the Election Commission is "committed" to conducting polls in Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible, adding that the people of J-K will give a befitting response to "disruptive forces."

CEC further said that all parties in Jammu and Kashmir are "batting strongly" for holding assembly elections.

There are a total of 90 assembly constituencies, of which 74 are General, nine are ST and seven are SC.

In Jammu and Kashmir, there are 87.09 lakh total electors. Of which 44.46 lakh are male, 42.62 female, 169 are Transgender, 82,590 PwDs, 73943 very senior citizens, 2660 centenarians, 76092 service electors, and 3.71 lakh are first-time voters.

In December of last year, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to conclude the election process by September 30, 2024.

Jammu and Kashmir will witness elections after a gap of ten years, as the last assembly election was held in 2014. The PDP-BJP coalition government fell in June 2018 when the latter withdrew support to the then-Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)