Assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir and the statehood of the Union territory will be restored soon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, ANI reported.

“The time is not far when Assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir,” Modi said at a rally in Udhampur in the Jammu region. “Jammu and Kashmir will get the status of statehood. You will be able to share your dreams with your MLA and your ministers.”

Modi was campaigning for Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha candidate Jitendra Singh.

In August 2019, the BJP-led Union government had abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.

In December, the Supreme Court in its verdict on petitions challenging the Centre’s decision had directed the government to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood “at the earliest and as soon as possible”.

The court had set September 2024 as the deadline for the Election Commission to conduct elections for the Legislative Assembly that is to be restored in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the poll panel did not announce any timing for the Assembly polls last month when it announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls.

The Election Commission had announced Assembly polls for Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim that will be held simultaneously with the general elections.

Opposition’s reaction

On Friday, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that Modi will not be doing the region any favours by restoring its statehood since he is bound to do so by the court.

“It would have been a favour for us if he [Modi] had conducted elections before the verdict of the Supreme Court,” the National Conference leader said. “It is now a compulsion for him. It is the Supreme Court’s verdict to conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir before September 30.”

The Opposition leader said that so far the BJP government has failed to explain why it took away Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.

The National Conference and the Congress are contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh together as part of the Opposition INDIA bloc.

The National Conference will contest all three Lok Sabha constituencies in the Kashmir region: Anantnag-Rajouri, Srinagar and Baramulla. The Congress will field its candidates from the two seats in the Jammu region – Udhampur and Jammu – as well as the lone seat in Ladakh.

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