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| J&K GOES TO POLLS | | EC announces seven-phased elections from Nov 17 to Dec 24, counting on Dec 28 | | Guesswork season end, politics gets impetus
• Ladakh, Poonch, Bandipore in first phase; Jammu, Srinagar in last phase
• Model Code of Conduct comes into force
• No election related official to serve in home district
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 19: Ending a season of guesswork and injecting an impetus in otherwise dull politics, the Election Commission of India has finally given nod to the elections for Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly.
Chief Election Commissioner of India N Gopalaswamy announced a staggering a seven-phased election schedule to begin with November 17 and end by December 24. Counting of votes will take place on December 31 and entire election process is set to complete by December 31.
Jammu based political parties have welcomed with enthusiasm the election schedule while Kashmir based parties have reacted with caution particularly expressing concern on voter turn out.
The Model Code of Conduct, which comes into effect immediately will apply to the whole state and will be applicable to all candidates, political parties as well as the State and the Union Governments. Besides, the Commission will also be deploying Observers to ensure smooth conduct of elections in the State. The observers will be asked to keep a close watch on every stage of electoral process to ensure free and fair polls.
While making the announcement in New Delhi today, Chief Election Commissioner of India stated that the elections will be held in seven phases in all the 87 Assembly constituencies of the State and EVMs will be used at all the polling stations.
While in the first phase of polls on 17th November, 10 Assembly constituencies of Gurez, Bandipora, Sonawari, Nobra, Leh, Kargil, Zanskar, Surankote, Mendhar & Poonch Haveli will go to polls, six assembly constituencies of Kangan, Ganderbal, Nowshera, Darhal, Rajouri and Kalakote will go to polls on 23rd November in Phase II. In the third phase on 30th November, electorates in five Assembly constituencies of Karnah, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara and Langate will exercise their franchise while as 18 Assembly constituencies of Uri, Rafiabad, Sopore, Sangrama, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Pattan, Chadoora, Budgam, Beerwah, Khansahib, Chare-e-Sharief, Gulabgarh, Reasi, Gol Arnas, Udhampur, Chenani and Ramnagar will go to polls in the fourth phase on 7th December.
On 13th December, 11 constituencies of Tral, Pampore, Pulwama, Rajpora, Wachi, Shopian, Bani, Basohli, Kathua, Billawar and Hiranagar will go to polls in the fifth phase. Sixteen constituencies of Noorabad, Kulgam, Home Shalibugh, Anantnag, Devsar, Doru, Kokernag, Shangus, Bijbehera, Pahalgam, Kishtwar, Inderwal, Doda, Bhaderwah, Ramban and Banihal will go to polls on 17th December in the penultimate phase. The polling will end with the seventh and final phase when elections will be held on 24th December in 21 Assembly constituencies that include Hazratbal, Zadibal, Idgah, Khanyar, Habba Kadal, Amira Kadal, Sonawar, Batmaloo, Samba, Vijaypur, Nagrota, Gandhinagar, Jammu East, Jammu West, Bishnah, RS Pura, Suchetgarh, Marh, Raipur Domana, Akhnoor and Chhamb.
The Election Commission has fixed 24th October as the date for issuance of gazette notification for assembly constituencies to which polls will be held in the first phase. The last date for nominations is 31st October while date of scrutiny will be November 1st. The last date of withdrawal of candidatures will be 3rd November. For the second phase of elections on 23rd November, the gazette notification will be issued on 29th October while as last date of nominations will be 5th November. Date of scrutiny of nominations and withdrawal of candidatures will be 6th November and 8th November respectively. For the third phase of polls on 30th November, the gazette notification will be issued on 4th November while as last date of nominations will be 11th November. Date of scrutiny of nominations and withdrawal of candidatures will be 12th November and 14th November respectively. For the 18 assembly constituencies that will go to polls in Phase IV on 7th December , the gazette notification will be issued on 10th November while 17th November has been fixed as the last date for nominations. The date of scrutiny of nominations and last date of withdrawal of candidatures will be 18th November and 20th November respectively. For the fifth phase of polls on 13th December the gazette notification will be issued on 17th November while as last date of nominations will be 24th November. Date of scrutiny of nominations and withdrawal of candidatures will be 25th November and 27th November respectively. For the sixth phase of polls on 17th December, the gazette notification will be issued on 22th November while as last date of nominations will be 29th November. Date of scrutiny of nominations and withdrawal of candidatures will be 1st December and 3rd December respectively. The gazette notification for the seventh and final phase to be held on 24th December will be issued on 26th November and the last date for nominations will be 3rd December. The dates for scrutiny of nominations and last date of withdrawal of candidatures will be 4th December and 6th December respectively.
The State Government has assured full cooperation to the Election Commission in the matter of providing necessary manpower and materials for the conduct of free, fair and peaceful elections. The Central Government has also assured that adequate Central Police Forces will be deployed to ensure safety, security and free movement of electors, candidates, leaders of political parties and polling personnel and in guarding of polling material and polling stations.
The District Election Officers have been asked to prepare comprehensive district election plan including communication plan using multi-mode resources such as landline telephones, cells, wireless sets etc to facilitate effective monitoring and control on the polling days.
The Election Commission has stated that it expects all officials engaged in the conduct of polls to discharge their duties in an impartial manner without any fear and favour, adding further that they shall be deemed to be on deputation to the Commission and shall be subject to its control, supervision and discipline. The officials will be under constant scrutiny of the Commission and strict action will be taken against those who are found wanting on any account.
There are a total of 8,109 polling stations in the State and for facilitating physically-challenged persons, instructions have been issued to ensure that all polling stations are located preferably at ground floor and ramps are also provided. Facilitation shall also be provided for locating the elector's name against a polling station or a group of polling stations through help-lines and facilitation centres.
Based on the assessment of the ground situation, forces drawn from other States will be deployed during the forthcoming elections. These security personnel will be generally used for safeguarding the polling stations and for providing security to the electors and polling personnel at the polling stations on the polling day. Besides, these forces will be used for securing the strong rooms where the EVMs are stored and at the counting centres.
Pertinent to recall that the poll schedule for J&K was announced following the meeting of the Commission with the representatives of recognized National and State parties on 8th September at New Delhi. Thereafter, the Commission held parleys with State Chief Secretary and Director General of Police as well as the Union Home Secretary to assess the poll preparedness and security situation in the State on 10th September. Earlier this month, another round of meetings was held with the Advisors to the Governor on 7th October which was followed by a meeting of the Commission with the State Chief Secretary and the DGP.
The polls in the State will be conducted at all polling stations using EVMs for which the Commission has already made arrangements to ensure availability for smooth conduct of elections. A two-staged randomization of EVMs will be made. In the first stage, all the EVMs stored in the District Storage Centre will be randomized for allocation assembly constituency wise. After the EVMs in a constituency are prepared for the poll by the Returning Officer and the ballot units are fitted with the ballot papers, then the EVMs will again be randomized to decide the actual polling stations in which they will be ultimately used. Both the randomization processes will be done in the presence of Observers and Candidates of their election agents.
Besides, the Election Commission has already given instructions that no election-related official or police officer of the rank of Sub Inspector and above shall be allowed to continue in his home district. Besides, instructions have also been issued that all the election-related officials including the police officials, who have completed three years in a district during last four years should be transferred out of the district.
The Election Commission has also instructed the State Government not to associate any officer with the electoral process against whom charges have been framed in a court of law in any case.
For the protection of SC/ST electors, as per Section 3(1) (vii) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, whoever, not being a member of a Scheduled caste or Scheduled Tribe, forces or intimidates a member of SC or ST not to vote or to vote to a particular candidate or to vote in a manner than that provided by law shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to five years and with fine. The Commission has asked the State Government to bring these provisions to the notice of all concerned for prompt action.
The Election Commission has further stated that the poll schedule has been prepared after taking into account all relevant aspects like the climatic conditions, academic schedules, festivals, prevailing law and order situation and availability of Central Police Forces, besides assessment of other ground realities. |
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