In the wake of the upcoming assembly elections, the Election Commission is preparing to roll out the updated voters' list in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Witnessing a huge voter turnout in J&K for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the poll body has expressed confidence regarding more participation in the assembly elections.
The qualifying date for roll updation is on July 1, 2024.
The qualifying date helps the officials establish the number of voters on a given date in a state or in the country.
The term of the present legislative assemblies in the three states is going to end on November 3, November 26 and January 5, 2025, respectively. The assembly elections should be held before the completion of their terms.
The EC noted that the assembly elections in J&K are also to be conducted for constituting a new house after the delimitation of constituencies.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his J&K visit, said that the assembly elections would be held soon in J&K and plans are underway to restore statehood to the union territory in the near future.
"Witnessing the huge participation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Commission has also directed for the updation of electoral rolls in the UT with July 1, 2024 as the qualifying date," the EC stated.
Earlier, the EC had said that it has decided to accept applications seeking allotment of "common symbols" for registered unrecognised parties in the UT.
But since no assembly is functional in Jammu and Kashmir, the EC has issued a press statement inviting applications for symbols.
The recognised national and state parties have their 'reserved symbols', however, the registered unrecognised parties will have to apply for symbols to field candidates. When free symbols are allocated to unrecognised parties, the remaining unclaimed symbols will be assigned by the returning officer to Independents "on the spot".
The assembly elections to be held in J&K will be the first since the August 2019 abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the bifurcation of J&K into two Union Territories.
Following a delimitation exercise, the number of assembly seats has gone up from 83 to 90, excluding those allocated to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In December, the Supreme Court directed the poll panel to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30.
