EC to seek legal opinion on Jammu & Kashmir elections

NEW DELHI: With the Union home ministry and the J&K administration proposing September-November window for assembly elections in the state, instead of the May-June period, EC has decided to seek legal opinion on the matter. It has also decided to seek a clarification from the ministry.
An EC statement after a meeting on Monday said that the poll panel will “seek clarification on certain aspects” from the Ministry of Home Affairs. “It was also decided to seek the opinion of an eminent legal expert in the context of ongoing President’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir,” the EC statement added.

Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government since the PDP-BJP coalition collapsed in June 2018. The state was placed under the Governor’s Rule on June 19, 2018, and was brought under the President’s Rule on December 19, 2018.

The President’s rule in the state will have to be extended by June 20, 2019, by the new Lok Sabha if an elected government isn’t formed before that date.

The EC had appointed three special observers in March to assess the ground situation and they are learnt to have indicated a window immediately after the Lok Sabha polls for holding the assembly elections in the state on the basis of their discussions with political parties and state officials, as first reported by ET on April 29.