Work on, assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir will be held soon, says LG

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor GC Murmu said that assembly election will be held soon in the newly formed Union territory.
Addressing a police department event in Jammu on Thursday, Murmu said the administration had already started preparations for the assembly election.

“Election will come. It is a Union territory with a legislature, it will not continue like this (LG's rule). The process for holding the election will come soon,” Murmu said, speaking at the attestation-cum-passing out parade of the 14th batch of constables, held in the Talwara area of Reasi district.

The announcement came on a day when the Union government approved the appointment of two advisors, Farooq Khan and KK Sharma, to J&K LG.

If the process to conduct assembly election begins, the administration would have to take a decision on continued detention of politicians – including former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah – since August 5, when the Centre withdrew the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union territories.

The Union government is seeking to create a new political platform and recent meetings of former PDP leader Altaf Bukhari and Muzaffar Baig with national security advisor Ajit Doval and parliamentarians from the European Union in Delhi hinted in this direction. The new political formations would be strengthened with the recently elected panchayat and block development council members at the grassroots level.