New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held immediately after the delimitation exercise and after consultation with political parties.
While responding to concerns raised by the members on Kashmir during the discussion on the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, Shah in the Lok Sabha said, “We have no interest in keeping Jammu and Kashmir under President's Rule.”
Asserting that first the panchayat elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir followed by the delimitation exercise, Shah said the assembly elections will be held after that and then J-K's statehood will be restored.
"Panchayat elections have been held, without any violence. Zilla panchayat elections are over. Delimitation is on the verge of completion. I would like to say this once again, that once delimitation is completed we will hold elections after consultation with political parties," Shah said as quoted by news agency PTI.
During the discussion on the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, the opposition members accused the government of delaying the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is to be noted that Jammu and Kashmir has been under President's Rule since June 2018 when the BJP walked out of the coalition government with the PDP which was led by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
The Narendra Modi-led government had bifurcated the state into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in August 2019. Jammu and Kashmir, which is now a Union Territory with a legislative assembly, is under President's Rule under the J&K Reorganisation Act.