Election Commission (EC) yet to decide on Anantnag Lok Sabha by-poll date

New Delhi, Aug 11 The Election Commission (EC) was yet to accept an approach when the Anantnag Lok Sabha by-poll would be held as the security situation in the Jammu and Kashmir region there was not viewed as favorable, an authority said.

The seat has been lying empty since July 4, 2016 after PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti surrendered as a Lok Sabha part as she assumed control as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

The EC had, on May 1, wiped out the Anantnag Lok Sabha by-poll, which was slated for May 25, citing a poor law-and- order situation and absence of sufficient central forces.

The poll board had before intended to conduct the by-poll on April 12, however had thusly deferred it to May 25, refering to comparative issues in the Kashmir Valley.

The authority said no choice had been taken so far on holding the by-survey as the circumstance was not yet helpful for it.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had then educated the EC that the by-survey should have been put off since the security organizations needed to continue the counter-militancy operations.

The government had additionally said these operations would be fundamental in the coming months to reestablish public order and empower decisions to be directed in a free-and-fair atmosphere after October.

"The anxiety communicated by the Chief Electoral Officer that there might be hesitance with respect to the surveying faculty to go to the surveying areas, in perspective of the dread in their brains as to their wellbeing and security is additionally a matter of concern," the May 1 EC order had said.