Regional parties like the National Conference and People's Democratic Party are waiting for early elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Technical reasons may delay Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. ECI has set October 31 as the date for publication of revised electoral rolls. Political parties are waiting for the final revision of rolls

Uncertainty has prevailed over the much-awaited elections in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) as the final revision of the election-related process is yet to be ascertained. However, election preparations in J&K has started to frame a new legislative assembly for the Union Territory of J&K after the abrogation of its special status and statehood.

Regional parties like the National Conference (NC) and People's Democratic Party (PDP) are waiting for early elections in Jammu and Kashmir. But technical reasons such as revision of electoral rolls in J&K may delay the elections.

Political analysts speculated that assembly elections in J&K would be held by the end of this year. Many reports have been flying thick and fast after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that there is a strong possibility of conducting the election process in J&K by this year end.

The ECI has set October 31 as the date for publication of the revised electoral rolls, the officials said. Political parties are waiting for the final revision of the rolls and as soon as rolls would be published, political parties will come out to contest their claims.

In the current session of Parliament, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said, "The election process is to be conducted in J&K by the Election commission of India (ECI). With this statement, the government put the ball of holding assembly elections in J&K in ECI's court.

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In June 2018, the BJP pulled out of the coalition from the PDP government and central rule started here. The J&K state legislature was dissolved in November 2018 and since then, there have been no Assembly elections held or scheduled till date.

Unless there is completion of revision of electoral rolls elections will have to wait. The government is very keen on the completion of this process.

If Held This Would Be First Polls Since 2014

If the Assembly elections are held in the coming months in J&K, it would be the first polls since the year 2014 when Jammu & Kashmir was a state.

There have been no major political overtures since the central government abrogated article 370. There was only one major political outreach when on June 24 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with political leaders from the region, signalling a renewed effort with the election process.

The delimitation commission was appointed by the President of India that works in collaboration with the ECI and it's key aim was to give equal representation to equal segment of the population in order to ensure a fair division of J&K's geographical area.

The commission made significant changes and increased six assembly seats in the Jammu region and one in the Kashmir valley and brought the Rajouri and Poonch regions under the Anantnag Parliamentary seat.

Erstwhile, J&K state had 87 Assembly seats, but now according to the orders of the delimitation commission, there will be 90 assembly seats in the UT, 43 in Jammu region and 47 in Kashmir region. Nine out of those seats will be reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

Since August 2019, many new political parties have emerged in the Union Territory and are claiming themselves as the representatives of the people. These parties reiterated the demand of elections in UT as the ground situation sounds ready for the elections.

On the other hand, the People's Alliance For Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which comprises many regional political parties of J&K like NC and PDP, have decided to contest elections on a United Platform.