Supreme Court recently during the hearing on the abrogation of article 370, Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta said that elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held soon and the voter list is almost ready.
The call for elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be under the jurisdiction of both the state and Union Election Commission, Mehta informed the 5-judge bench head by CJI D Y Chandrachud.
It is worth noting that the elections of the District Development council have already taken place in Jammu and Kashmir and the Panchayat elections are also scheduled to take place in a short while.
Additionally, SG Mehta told the Supreme Court that the elections for the Leh Hill Development Council have been completed and the elections for Kargil will be held in September this year.
The centre also told the apex court that the Jammu and Kashmir polls will be held in three stages. The first stage- panchayat elections, the second stage- municipal elections, and the third stage-legislative assembly elections.
Steps are being taken gradually to revert Jammu and Kashmir to a state, but it cannot provide an exact time frame for the restoration of statehood for the Union Territory, the Centre told the Supreme Court.
Earlier this week on Tuesday, the central government informed the SC that the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is only for some time and the status of J&K as a state will be restored eventually when things will get normal.
In a satisfactory reply to the SC, SG Mehta stated that the terrorist-initiated instances in Jammu and Kashmir have reduced by around 45% and infiltration has reduced by 90% in 2023 when compared to 2018.
Activities related to stone pelting have also seen a negative trend after 2018 with a reduction of 97.2% in the total number of such activities.
Although the 5-judge bench stated that such facts won’t affect the case on the legality of the abrogation of article 370.
The 5-judge bench headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud remarked that “The government has to make that statement before us that its (Jammu and Kashmir) progression back to state has to take place.
It cannot be a Union territory in permanence. Restoration of democracy is very important. It’s a surviving component for our nation.
