NEW DELHI: Ahead of the legislative assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued a notification regarding the publication of exit polls during the election period. In a notification dated September 3, the ECI stated that any publication of exit polls in connection to the elections in those regions by any means of print, electronic media or dissemination in any other manner during the period of 7 am on Wednesday, September 18 and 6:30 pm on Saturday, October 5, has been prohibited. “The period between 7.00 A.M. on 18.09.2024 (Wednesday) and 6.30 P.M. on 05.10.2024 (Saturday), as the period during which conducting and publishing or publicising exit poll by means of the print or electronic media or dissemination in any other manner whatsoever, the result of any exit poll in connection with the aforesaid general election, shall be prohibited,” the notification stated. The notice further mentioned that the display of any election matter, including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media would be prohibited during 48 hours ending with the hours fixed for the conclusion of the poll. The voting for the 90-member legislative assembly in Haryana will be held on October 5, with the last date for filing nominations being September 12. Jammu and Kashmir has 90 assembly constituencies, with 7 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 9 for Scheduled Tribes (STs). As per the Election Commission of India, Jammu and Kashmir has 88.06 lakh eligible electors. In the previous Assembly elections, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won 28 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 25, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) won 15, and the Congress won 12. These upcoming elections will be the first in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370. Polling in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1. On August 31, the Election Commission of India (ECI) revised the polling date for the Haryana Assembly elections from October 1 to October 5 and moved the counting of votes for both the Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana assemblies from October 4 to October 8.
