‘86.9 lakh voters to exercise their franchise in LS polls in J&K’

STATE TIMES NEWS

Jammu: The Election Commission will decide on holding Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together or separately in Jammu and Kashmir after reviewing the security situation and feedback from stakeholders, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Wednesday.
He also rejected criticism about the “delay” in holding assembly elections in the Union Territory, saying delimitation and necessary legislative processes were completed by December 2023 only.
“The changes happened in December 2023 and we are in March We know our responsibilities and we are also aware that there should be no political vacuum and the elections should be held sooner,” he told reporters before wrapping up his three-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir to assess the preparedness for the upcoming parliamentary elections. He said the Commission had taken feedback from stakeholders including political parties, security agencies and administration on holding assembly elections with the upcoming general elections.
“We reviewed whether the two elections will be held together or one after another. We will decide after reviewing the security situation and taking the feedback.
“We have taken feedback from everybody about how much security is required. Each candidate needs security cover (in J-K) so it (holding elections together) will have security implications,” the CEC said.
Kumar said the Commission is equally concerned about assembly and parliamentary elections. “We had a meeting with representatives of national and regional political parties and questions were raised about the delay in holding of assembly polls. I want to clarify that there was no delay on the part of the Election Commission,” Kumar said.
He said the J-K Reorganisation Act came in 2019 followed by a delimitation commission which completed its exercise in 2022, recommending an increase of assembly seats from 107 to 114 including 24 seats for residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
“Now we have 90 assembly seats including nine seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes. There was no chance of holding elections as there was a dissonance between the J-K reorganisation act and the delimitation.
“We have to bring them together and that happened in December 2023 in the form of the J-K Reorganization (Amendment) Act,” he said. Kumar said the amended act also included the recommendation of the delimitation commission to reserve two seats for migrants including a woman and another provision of one nomination for displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The CEC said as many as 86.9 lakh electorate including 3.4 lakh first-time voters are eligible to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Jammu and Kashmir. He said 11,629 polling stations with an average 747 voters per polling station will be set up in the Union Territory, where 77,290 voters are above 85 years of age, including 2886 being more than 100 years.
He requested the voters and the political parties to enthusiastically take part in the “festival of democracy”, assuring peaceful and inducement-free elections with “level playing field” for all the contesting parties.
“We have been visiting different parts of the country to review poll preparedness and this was our last visit. We met leaders of various national and regional political parties, law enforcement agencies, chief secretary and DGP, and had detailed deliberations,” Kumar said. He said directions were passed for ensuring peaceful and temptation-free elections and also for ensuring maximum turnout of the voters.
The CEC said there are 86.9 lakh voters including 44.34 lakh men and 42.55 lakh women registered in Jammu and Kashmir. The number also included 67,400 persons with disabilities and 158 transgenders.
The electoral gender ratio of women voters has increased from 945 in 2019 to 954 in 2024, he said, adding there are 16 assembly constituencies where the electoral gender ratio is more than 1000. While 1.56 lakh women electors are between 18-19 years, the new female voters stand at 1.35 lakhs, he said.
Against a total of 11629 polling stations, 9307 are located in rural areas and 2322 in urban areas, Kumar said, and added that 52 per cent of the polling stations (5814) have the facility of webcasting and 267 will be model polling stations. There will be 93 all-women-managed polling stations and 83 by persons with disabilities.
The CEC said a total of 47 interstate check posts and 385 internal police checkpoints will be set up and manned round-the-clock as part of strict vigil on inter-state and international borders. Directions have also been passed for keeping a watch on the uncharted flights.
Referring to his meeting with political parties, he said they demanded level playing field and no discrimination in providing security for campaigning.
Kumar said the demands and concerns of the political parties have been taken note of and strict instructions were given to the concerned officers so that no such complaint is raised ever again. He said the officers were told to provide adequate security to senior political leaders in accordance with their threat perception so that they can freely campaign during the ensuing elections. The officers were warned of strict action in case they fail to perform their duties and ensure level playing field to all parties without any discrimination.
“There is no place for violence, intimidation and threat to voters,” he said, directing immediate action against the culprits.

EC will disclose details of electoral bonds in time: Rajiv Kumar

Jammu: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday announced sharing details of electoral bonds “in time” and asserted that the commission believed in complete transparency.
Speaking to reporters at the end of his visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Kumar also said that the poll body was ready to hold assembly as well as Lok Sabha elections in the Union territory.
Kumar, who ended his nationwide visits ahead of the Lok Sabha election schedule announcement, was asked whether the ECI would be disclosing the details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 following a direction from the Supreme Court.
The State Bank of India (SBI) has issued electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018.
“The SBI was supposed to submit the data by March 12. They have given us the details in time. I will go back and look at the data (and) would definitely disclose it in time,” Kumar said. He said the commission believed only “in disclosure, disclosure and disclosure” to ensure high standards of transparency.
The Supreme Court had directed SBI to submit the details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 to the EC. The SBI is the authorised financial institution to issue the electoral bonds. The SBI on Tuesday evening submitted the details of entities which had purchased the now-scrapped electoral bonds and political parties which redeemed them. According to the Supreme Court order, the Election Commission will have to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15.
The Supreme Court had on February 15 scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered disclosure by the EC of donors, the amount donated by them and recipients.
The SBI had sought time till June 30 for disclosure of the details. Its plea, however, was rejected by the apex court, and it asked the bank to submit all details to the Election Commission by the close of working hours on Tuesday.
Today, the SBI submitted a compliance affidavit to the Supreme Court informing that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased by donors between April 1, 2019 and February 15 this year, out of which 22,030 were redeemed by political parties.
It said details, including date of purchase of each electoral bond, names of the purchaser and the denomination of the bonds purchased have been furnished.
The affidavit said between April 1, 2019 and April 11, 2019, a total of 3,346 electoral bonds were purchased and 1,609 redeemed.
It further said from April 12, 2019 (beginning date as per the Supreme court) to February 15 this year, a total of 18,871 electoral bonds were purchased and 20,421 were redeemed. Kumar, who reached here on Wednesday to review preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, also said that the EC was ready for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. “We will ensure free and fair elections across the country. We request voters across the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, to enthusiastically take part in the festival of democracy,” he said. He said a social media cell will be established in all districts in order to respond to fake news in real time.
“Adequate security will be provided to all candidates and central forces will be deployed,” he added. Kumar said strict vigil will be maintained on online cash transfers through wallets in Jammu and Kashmir. People above 85 years and those with disability will be provided the voting-at-home facility in the Union territory, he added.