Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said on Thursday that the Election Commission was prepared to conduct free and fair Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, despite attempts by certain forces to disrupt the democratic process.
CEC Kumar, accompanied by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Dr SS Sandhu briefed around 400 senior officers from IAS, IPS, IRS, and other Central Services here.
They will be deployed as Observers in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana at Rang Bhawan Auditorium in the Union capital.
Around 200 officers will be used as General Observers while 100 each will be Police and Expenditure Observers.
Polling in Jammu and Kashmir is scheduled to be held in three phases on September 18 and 25 and October 1.
"There are forces trying to disrupt the election process but we are fully prepared and the ballot is the answer to such forces," CEC Kumar added.
"The world is watching the elections in J-K. Some forces are hell-bent on hampering the election process, but we are prepared to deal with them.
"In the Lok Sabha elections, we witnessed overwhelming enthusiasm in J-K; record voter turnout was registered. People of J-K will carve their destiny with their own hands by taking part in the voting process," he said.
Meanwhile, The Commission called upon Observers to always be prepared for fake narratives and provision of quick responses should somebody try to derail the election process.
They were asked to attend meetings of candidates and political parties and ensure that grievances were redressed.
They will also be sending direct inputs to the Commission and ensure compliance with election laws and guidelines.
Observers, who are the eyes and ears of the Commission, have been asked to be ever vigilantly impartial.
They are deployed under Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the plenary powers of the Constitution.
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