Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday that Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were likely to be held by the end of the year.
“It appears to me that the electoral exercise may begin by the end of the current year. There are strong possibilities,” he said in Jammu while speaking at a function organised to mark the 200 years of the coronation of Maharaja Gulam Singh, the first Dogra ruler of undivided Jammu and Kashmir.
Referring to the recently completed delimitation exercise, he said the composition of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was going to change after the delimitation of constituencies. Earlier there were 83 Assembly seats—37 in Jammu and 46 in Kashmir. Now, there will be 47 seats in Kashmir and 43 in Jammu.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir have a role to play in the future of the Union Territory, he said, adding that he believed that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, another Union Territory, were going to play a major role in “new India”.
