*ECI announces JK election dates in 5 phases from Nov 25 to Dec 20* *Floods will not impact polls: Samapth* *72.25 lakh registered voters, 10,015 polling booths, NOTA available* *Srinagar, Oct 25 (KNS):* The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came in to force on Saturday as Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir with ECI maintaining that recent floods will have no impact on state elections. The polls in the flood ravaged stated will be held in five phases starting from November 25 to December 20, 2014. Reports informed that counting of the votes will be done on December 23. The number of polling stations in Jammu and Kashmir for the conduction of elections on 87 seats, there are 10,015 polling stations and that total number of electorate is 72.25 lakhs. The term of the legislative assembly expires in JK on January 19, 2015. ECI on Saturday announced that assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in five phases between November 25, 2014 and December 20, 2014 and counting of votes will take place on December 23. Polling will take place on November 25, December 2, 9, 14 and 20, Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said in a press conference in New Delhi. ECI also overlooked the suggestions put forth by the ruling National Conference, that elections in flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir be postponed. Sampath said the recent calamity will have no “special impact” on polls. He said post-flood situation, along with other aspects like climate, festivals and law and order situation, have been taken into account while deciding the poll schedule. “Except for one political party, most of the political parties (in Jammu and Kashmir) were in favour of holding elections on time. They said there is no reason, no justification for delaying the polls. The EC’s mandate is to hold elections on time,” he said. Also None Of The Above Option (NOTA) has been made available in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) through which a voter has a choice to reject all the contesting candidates. The state witnessed debate in the past over the introduction of NOTA in Jammu and Kashmir with a major chunk of separatists terming it a non- issue and some of the senior mainstream players feared that the option might be misused by the separatist elements in JK. Congress veteran and a minister Taj Mohi-ud-din also wrote a letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi asking her to take a note of introduction of NOTA in Jammu and Kashmir. Separatist leader and chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar in an interview had termed the NOTA option ‘interesting’, saying through this option the people of Kashmir can tell to the world what they want. The current six-year term of the Jammu and Kashmir government comes to an end on January 5. (KNS)
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 14:05:30 +0000