EC defers Anantnag Lok Sabha bypoll to May 25

The Election Commission on Monday night deferred the Anantnag Lok Sabha bypoll to May 25, citing inputs by the Jammu and Kashmir government that the law and order situation is not conducive.

The by-election was to be held on April 12.

The EC notification said the state administration apprehends that “violent attempts” can be made by miscreants to thwart the poll process.

Before the announcement, a school designated as a polling station for the Anantnag bypolls was set on fire in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. A panchayat ghar was also set ablaze in Pulwama district.

It pointed at large scale violence which took place in Srinagar on Sunday during a similar bypoll.

Following the escalation of violence on Sunday, internet services have been suspended in entire Kashmir Valley till Anantnag bypolls on April 12.

Apart from this, all Kashmir University exams scheduled to be held up to the Anantnag bypoll have been postponed.

June 1 has been set as the date by which the election process should be completed in Anantnag.

The Anantnag seat fell vacant in June last year after Mehbooba Mufti won the assembly polls and resigned from the Lok Sabha.

-- With inputs from ANI

Image: Protesters throw stones at a burning polling staff bus after they attacked a polling station at Kanihama in Srinagar on Sunday. Photograph: PTI Photo