STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar arrived here on Monday on a three-day visit to review preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
The general elections are likely to be held in April-May.
No formal engagements are scheduled for the Election Commission team consisting of Kumar and nine other EC officials for Monday, officials said.
The team will hold detailed meetings with civil administration and police officials on Tuesday as part of the review process, they added.
The EC officials are also scheduled to meet representatives of political parties during the visit.
They will hold similar interactions in Jammu on Wednesday, the officials said, adding they are also likely to interact with the media there. There has been a growing demand from political quarters in Jammu and Kashmir that the Election Commission should hold Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls or immediately after the general elections.
Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad have raised this demand in the past two weeks.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Saturday held a meeting with the civil and police administration to sensitise them about the measures to be taken for the smooth conduct of the Lok Sabha polls in the Union Territory.
The chief secretary asserted that the administration’s objective is to ensure free and fair elections with large-scale public participation. Dulloo impressed upon the divisional and the district administration to take all necessary measures to ensure that people do not face any hardships in exercising their democratic rights.
