Even as sharp differences continued between the National Conference — in power in Jammu and Kashmir — and the other political parties on whether or not to postpone Assembly elections in the State, the full Election Commission is travelling to Srinagar on October 18 to assess the situation and review poll preparations there. This comes amid indications that the Centre favours holding the polls on schedule.
The visit of Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and Election Commissioners H.S. Brahma and Nasim Zaidi, official sources said, follows the one that Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi made to the northern State last week to assess whether it is advisable to hold elections now or not as the State is yet to recover from the recent floods that devastated it.
The EC needs to take a view soon as, in the normal course, a new government should be in place by January 19, 2015.
