Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 1: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken high level review of situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir as it fights with several odds in taking decision on holding Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The Election Department has submitted its preliminary assessment of the situation to the ECI while the final assessment was likely to be taken in a fortnight’s time.
Another high level assessment of the situation will be taken by the Election Commission through video conferencing with all District Electoral Officers (DEOs), who happened to be the Deputy Commissioners, and all recognized national and state political parties on October 7 and 8 here as a prelude to final assessment of the situation by the full Election Commission before taking a decision on holding elections in the State.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath has obtained a detailed assessment of the situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of heavy floods and rains in the first week of September, which wreaked havoc in various parts of the State killing nearly 300 people and causing huge destruction of civilian property and Government infrastructure.
Sources said the full Election Commission including the CEC and two ECs have reviewed in detail the assessment of the situation prevailing in the State especially in the flood his districts, where the Deputy Commissioners, who were presently also acting as the District Election Officers (DEOs), were engaged in relief and rehabilitation operations.
The Election Department of J&K has submitted its detailed report on the situation in election bound State. The assessment report was based district wise mentioning the districts, which were virtually free of floods and rains, the districts which were worst affected and the districts which were partially affected by the natural calamity.
The Election Commission will hold another high level assessment of the situation on October 8 through video conferencing with all DEOs and Election Department officials to ascertain their assessment of the situation. Deputy Chief Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi will hold the video conferencing to take view point of all 22 DEOs in the State including 10 each in Jammu and Kashmir regions and two in Ladakh.
Zutshi will reach Jammu on two days assessment visit of the State on October 7. On Day one, he will meet officers of State Election Department including Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Umang Narula and review the situation prevailing in the State with only two options-whether the elections can be held in November-December as scheduled or they had to be deferred to April-May as they can’t be held between January to March due to adverse weather conditions in the State.
After video conference with the DEOs on October 8, Zutshi will also meet representatives of all recognized national and State political parties here to know their view point on holding or deferring the elections. Term of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly expires on January 19 and if new Assembly is not in place before that, the State would have to be brought under the Governor’s rule till fresh elections are held.
The Election Department today conveyed to all 22 DEOs to prepare their assessment based on ground report from the field officers to give their assessment to the Election Commission on October 8, sources said, adding that Vinod Zutshi would prepare a comprehensive report for the full CEC based on assessment of the DEOs and the State Election Department.
Sources said the Election Commission of India in particular wants to know number of the districts and Assembly constituencies affected by the floods including number of polling stations, which have been hit by the floods and rains. The Election Department has already asked the DEOs to get ready with the figures of polling stations hit by the floods.
The Election Department has already briefed the Election Commission about number of the districts and constituencies affected by the floods and rains, which required more focus on relief and rehabilitation operations now.
The Election Commission had only yesterday deferred publication of final electoral rolls of summary revision by 15 days as some work was still pending in few districts of Kashmir and Poonch district of Jammu as the DEOs were busy with relief and rehabilitation. The electoral rolls, which were scheduled to be published today (October 1) were deferred till October 15.
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