SRINAGAR: The Election Commission of India (ECI) Monday began a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and the state assembly polls simultaneously.
The ECI team, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, began interactions with political parties soon after their arrival in the summer capital, officials said. They said the team will meet with officials of the state government, including the deputy commissioners and the district police chiefs, to get a briefing on the security situation in the state.
The officials said the team will leave for Jammu later in the day and hold similar interactions there Tuesday. The state has been under the President's Rule since December 20, 2018. Prior to that, it was under the Governor's Rule for six months.
The PDP-BJP government in the state fell in June 2018 after the national party pulled out of the coalition.
Almost all political parties in Kashmir have advocated holding state assembly polls simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections but the ECI wants to assess the ground situation in the wake of the current state of heightened tension between India and Pakistan.