New Delhi: The Bhartiya Janata Party is pressing ahead for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in October, along with those in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand.
A 3-hour long meeting of the state coordination committee leaders convened by national working president J P Nadda here on Tuesday was to take stock of the party’s preparations for the elections and give a signal to the state leaders to get ready for polls in October.
The party also announced on Wednesday appointment of its national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna from Punjab as the in-charge for elections in J&K, a sign of speeding up the process of selection of candidates for polls in October.
Maharashtra and Haryana have to complete the elections by October 15 and that suits fine for holding the elections as well in Jammu and Kashmir which is lying under the President’s rule since after collapse of the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government of PDP (People’s Democratic Party) and BJP.
The elections will not be possible in Jammu and Kashmir later because of the severe winter and the Modi government does not want to postpone them to May-June next year if not held now, the BJP sources said.
They said deployment of 10,000 additional troops in the state had nothing to do with any move to sudden abrogation of Article 370 or 35A as being alleged by the regional parties of the state.
These troops will be required if the elections are taking place in October, they affirmed.
The Modi government is also pressing the Election Commission to advance Delhi Assembly elections as well in October, though Aam Aadmi Party of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has not yet consented for early elections.
The Jharkhand Assembly’s term is up to November 25 but if the elections can be advanced there in October, the Modi government’s logic is that the same can be possible in Delhi where the Assembly’s term expires in February.
