Jammu & Kashmir polls to begin from southern Kashmir despite rise in terror
Jammu and Kashmir is set to hold its shortest three-phase assembly elections in September, and the Election Commission of India has decided to begin the elections in challenging areas of southern Kashmir and Chenab Valley across the Pir Panjal mountains, which have recently seen incidents of violence.
The assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held after nearly a decade--the longest interval in modern history--and the first since the repeal of Articles 370 and 35 (A) and the completion of the delimitation exercise in 2022, during which both parliament and assembly elections were redrawn. The ECI has combined the districts from both Kashmir and Jammu divisions to ensure that each and every candidate receives the security demanded by the political parties.
The first round of the assembly elections is set for September 18 in 23 constituencies in southern Kashmir, including Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian, and Kulgam, as well as Ramban, Kishtwar, and Doda in Jammu's Chenab Valley. These locations have seen recent insurgent events, and counter-insurgency operations have been ongoing for some weeks. The police and army have established the presence of foreign militants in Doda, Kishtwar, Anantnag, and Kulgam.
«Elections are beginning in difficult areas to send a message that no violence can derail a democratic process. Also, forces have already been deployed in southern Kashmir and parts of Jammu for the Amarnath yatra, which ends on August 19, and we will maintain them there until the end of the election in the
