EC publishes J&K electoral rolls

The Election Commission on Wednesday published the final electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir, putting the number of eligible voters at 72.75 lakh.

Assembly elections are due in December and publishing the final rolls is a pre-requisite for holding the exercise.

While all the mainstream parties are in favour of holding the elections on time, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been saying that the time is not right as it may interrupt the rehabilitation and reconstruction work going on across the State in the wake of the floods.

Chief Electoral Officer Umang Narula told

The Hindu that an EC team, comprising Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and Election Commissioners H.S. Brahma and Nasim Zaidi, would visit Srinagar and Jammu on Saturday (October 18) to take a final call on when to hold the elections.

“We are busy with the preparations for their visit and we will hold a press briefing then,” Mr. Narula said.

According to the electoral rolls, there are 37.94 lakh male voters, 34.31 lakh female voters and 96 persons in the others category in the State.

The rolls were earlier scheduled to be published on October 1 but were delayed due to the floods that hit several parts of the State last month.