EC Announces Postponement of Voting for Anantnag-Rajouri Constituency

New Delhi: With the biggest poll battle of the year – Lok Sabha Elections 2024 – currently underway in the country, the Election Commission of India on Tuesday announced the postponement of voting for the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok constituency to May 25, citing logistical issues due to adverse weather conditions in Jammu and Kashmir. The polling for the seat was earlier scheduled to take place on May 7.

Except for the poll date, there are no other changes in any part of the schedule, news agency PTI reported, quoting officials.

There are 20 candidates in the fray including former chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. 

Various representations were received from different political parties of Jammu and Kashmir for shifting the date of election to the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency, the poll body said in a release.

These parties had cited various logistic, communication and natural barriers of connectivity turning out as a hindrance in campaigning which in turn amounted to a lack of fair opportunities for the contesting candidates in the parliamentary constituency, an official statement from the EC read.

“The Commission, after considering a report from UT administration as well as analysing the ground situation prevailing in the said constituency, has decided under Section 56 of Representation of People Act, 1951, to revise the date of poll” from May 7 to May 25, it further said.

The Commission has only revised the poll date for the Lok Sabha seat and all statutory processes including nomination, scrutiny and withdrawal are already over with 20 contesting candidates", PTI quoted the poll body officials as saying.

The leaders, who had petitioned the EC, included Jammu and Kashmir BJP unit chief Ravinder Raina, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari, People's Conference leader Imran Ansari and others.

The Election Commission had asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to immediately submit a detailed report on road conditions, weather and accessibility to the region which covers parts of South Kashmir and areas in Poonch and Rajouri in the Jammu region.

Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary seat covers 18 assembly segments across three districts of Anantnag, Shopian and Kulgam in south Kashmir and two border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, barring one assembly constituency, in Jammu region.

The two regions on either side of Pir Panjal are connected through the Mughal Road which usually remains closed during winter months owing to heavy snowfall, especially in the Peer Ki Gali and adjoining areas.

The road was recently cleared for one-way traffic after a hectic snow clearance operation but fresh snowfall forced closure of the traffic on the road on April 27.

(With inputs from PTI)