Home ministry starts preparing for J&K polls
The home ministry, however, wants to complete its security assessment and availability of troops before the poll panel calls it for consultations.
New Delhi: The home ministry will soon start consultations with Central paramilitary forces regarding the availability of security personnel if the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are to be held in September or October which is when both Maharashtra and Haryana will go to polls.
After getting the inputs from the security forces, the home ministry will share the details during consultations with the Election Commission if it decides to go ahead with polls in J&K. Sources said though the final decision as to when elections are to be held in the troubled state has to be taken by the Election Commission.
The home ministry, however, wants to complete its security assessment and availability of troops before the poll panel calls it for consultations.
J&K has been under Governor’s Rule ever since BJP pulled out of the coalition Government of PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti in June last year.
Assembly elections in the state have been delayed primarily on account of the security situation in the Valley.
The BJP held a high-level meeting on Tuesday evening with its senior leaders from the state to asses the situation and the possibility of Assembly elections being held in the J&K over the next few months.
Centre had recently rushed an additional 100 companies of central paramilitary forces to the Valley leading to wide spread speculations regarding reasons for it. Home
Ministry sources said this has been done largely to replace the security personnel who were already deployed in the Valley, particularly in view of the ongoing Amarnath Yatra. However, there are reports that increased presence of paramilitary personnel is being done to further improve the security situation which would facilitate holding Assembly elections.
“Although the security situation has improved considerably over the last few months, the final decision on when the elections will be held, has to be taken by the EC. But we will complete our groundwork over the next few days in terms of how many security personnel can be deployed in case the Commission decides to go in for polls along with Haryana and Maharash-tra,’’ a senior security official said.