The Election Commission has issued a notification about changes in the election schedule of Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag Parliamentary seat. The poll panel, in the notification dated March 10, also clarified it would conduct Assembly bye-polls in 18 Tamil Nadu constituencies along with the Lok Sabha polls on April 18.

The notification said that while the polling dates for Anantnag would remain the same – April 23, April 29 and May 6, the last date of issuing a gazette notification had been revised to March 28, last date for filing a nomination to April 4, and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature to April 8.

Polling for Jammu and Kashmir’s six Lok Sabha seats will take place in five phases. Polling in Anantnag will take place in three phases – a first for any constituency.

The Anantnag constituency was represented by Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. She vacated the seat when she became the chief minister following the death of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 2016. Bye-elections scheduled for May 2017 were deferred after violence in Srinagar left nine people dead.

The Election Commission on Sunday announced the dates for the 2019 General Elections. The polls will be held in seven phases, starting April 11 and ending May 19. The results will be declared on May 23. The Election Commission on Sunday said the Assembly elections for Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be held along with Lok Sabha polling.