JAMMU, June 3:
The Election Commission (EC) on Monday said it will start the process of holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir very soon.
Addressing a press conference here, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said the EC was very enthused by the voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir during the Lok Sabha elections, which showed the eagerness of the people to participate in the democratic process.
“We will very soon start the process of assembly elections in J&K. We are very enthused. It is one of the most satisfying moments,” the CEC said.
The voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir during the Lok Sabha elections was 58.58 per cent, the highest in four decades. The voter turnout in Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir valley was 51.05 per cent, he said.
While announcing the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections in March, Kumar had said that holding assembly and parliamentary elections simultaneously was not practical due to logistical and security reasons.
Whenever assembly elections are held in Jammu and Kashmir, they will be the first since the August 2019 abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the division of the erstwhile state into two union territories.
The electoral exercise in Jammu and Kashmir is usually spread over a month.
Following a delimitation exercise, the number of assembly seats in the union territory has gone up from 83 to 90, excluding those allocated to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In December, the Supreme Court had directed the poll panel to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30.
Meanwhile, Countering allegations of attempts to unduly influence Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday asked the critics to share evidences so that it can act on specific complaints even as it dismissed “mischievous narratives” on the poll process.
He claimed the systems put in place could not go wrong and it would work with precision of a clock. On the questions raised on the poll process, including complaints over voters’ list, working of EVM and poll turnout data, Kumar said that there is “a pattern, a design”, which he says he would stop short calling a “toolkit”.
While claiming that India has created a world record with 64.2 crore voters that includes 31.2 crore women, which is 1.5 times of G7 voters and 2.5 times of EU voters, Kumar also spoke about the “learnings” from the seven-phased poll process, saying it should have been closed by April-end and that the poll body should be prepared to tackle false narratives on the process.
Addressing an unprecedented press conference a day before the counting of votes, Kumar referred to the allegations by Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh that Home Minister Amit Shah telephoned around 150 District Magistrates, who double up as Returning Officers, and said it was not fair to put all officers under the eye of suspicion.
“Those levelling allegations should say which DM was influenced and we will punish them. They should tell us before the counting process begins. You cannot spread a rumour and bring everyone under a cloud of suspicion,” Kumar, who was flanked by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, said.
He claimed there were “mischievous narratives” on voters’ lists and EVMs and the “pattern” was to dig up pending cases.
“They are trying to spread anarchy. During the campaign, workers are charged up and if these narratives get some gravity, imagine what will happen,” he said adding, one of the petitions was filed just four days before the first phase like in 2019.
The Commission was prepared to deal with any foreign attempt to influence the poll process but these allegations have come from within the country itself, he said adding, “we should be more prepared to deal with this (on handling false narratives).”
On the counting process, he said the EC has accepted all demands made by the I.N.D.I.A. delegation that met them on Sunday while insisting that the issues raised by them were part of the process for the past seven decades.
“Some demands were made by a multi-party delegation. We have agreed to all the demands,” Kumar said, indicating that most of the issues raised by the multi-party delegation were part of election manuals.
On social media memes calling election commissioners ‘Laapataa Gentlemen (missing gentlemen)’, Kumar said, “We were always here, never went missing. Now memes can say the ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’ are back.” Citing the Conduct of Election Rules, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday said the count of postal ballots will start first across all counting centres and asserted that there was “no doubt about it”.
Responding to questions at a press conference here, he said after half-an-hour of the start of the postal ballot count, the counting of votes recorded in the electronic voting machines will commence.
A delegation of the opposition parties had on Sunday met the Commission to demand that postal ballot count should start first and the results of postal ballots should be announced first.
“Rules clearly state (Rule 54A) that postal ballot count will start first. On all centres in the country it will start first, no doubt about it. After half-an-hour we start the EVM count. So, there are three countings which are happening simultaneously — it happened in the 2019 elections, it happened in all the assembly polls held thereafter. It happened yesterday also in case of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim assembly (vote count). We can’t change anything mid course. Why can’t we change, because it is compliant with the rules,” he said.
He said the postal ballot count and then the EVM count and finally the marching of VVPT slips with EVM results will continue.
In majority of the booths, the number of postal ballot is less. It will automatically end first, he pointed out.
Since 2019, VVPAT (paper-trail machine) slips from five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency (or segment in cases of Lok Sabha seats) are matched with the EVM count for greater transparency. (PTI)
