EC gears up for J&K polls

The Election Commission says the logistics for the next Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be in place “very soon".

The Election Commission (EC) says the logistics for the next Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be in place “very soon”. With the easing of situation in Jammu, the EC hopes that engineers of the Bharat Electronics (one of the companies responsible for the upkeep of the EVMs) will begin work in Jammu on Monday.

The state EC officials in Srinagar will soon place orders for “rubber stamps” used in polling stations. The authorities hope to get supplies by September 15. The state voters’ list, too, is ready, and an exercise is on to “tally” the Hindi list with the one

in the “mother language —Urdu”.

With the state having some 65 lakh voters, it was decided that at least one member in every family must have the voter I-card. The EC has achieved much beyond the target — while 20 lakh voters (of the total 28 lakh) in the Valley have got their ID cards, the corresponding figure in the Jammu region is 7 lakh (out of the total 19 lakh voters).

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“Whether it’s the voters’ list, the EVMs or the voter I-cards, we have ensured that everything is in place by the middle of the next month,” said J&K Chief Electoral Officer B R Sharma.

The EC will take a call on the election date, for which a full-fledged team from the Commission will visit the state soon.