Saturday 18th Jul, 2026
CPI (M) delegation meets ECI team, demands Assembly polls with LS election
Srinagar, Mar 4: (UNI) A CPI (M) delegation led by senior leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami on Monday met Election Commission of India (ECI) team headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora here and demanded that the Assembly polls be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections.
The ECI team arrived on Monday in the summer capital, Srinagar on a two-day visit to assess the ground situation for holding Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the Jammu and Kashmir presently under President’s rule which is ending in May 2019.
A CPI(M) spokesperson said that the delegation called on the ECI team and raised the issues related to holding of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. “The delegation apprised the visiting team that Jammu and Kashmir is without an elected government for the past almost nine months and in the absence of an elected government, uncertainty in the state is deepening day-by-day and dissatisfaction among large section of people is increasing,” he said.
The delegation said that only effective response to this situation is to initiate democratic process and hold elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha simultaneously. “Any delay to do so will hamper the process of improvement in the situation,” it added.
“When President’s Rule was imposed in the state on December 19, 2018, the Union Home Minister on record said in Parliament that they will not delay holding of elections in J&K and it will be held within six months-time,” the delegation said.
It said there is no justification whatsoever to delay Assembly elections in J&K politically or constitutionally. “Experience confirms that delay will hamper the process of improvement and any excuse to delay can’t be justified. Administration will be overburdened if elections are held separately,” the delegation informed the ECI team.
The CPI (M) leaders urged the CEC to announce the election dates for the Parliament and Assembly as soon as possible to end the prevailing political uncertainty in the sensitive state.