The Election Commission on Friday announced the updating of electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir for the much-awaited Assembly elections, the announcement coming a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Srinagar that preparations for the polls had begun.

The rolls revision will be completed by August 20, the commission said, but it announced no dates for the election. The Supreme Court has set a September 30, 2024, deadline for the conduct of Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir has been without an Assembly since the last one was dissolved in 2018. The last Assembly elections were held in the then state in 2014, which led to a coalition government by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the BJP and some smaller players.

The BJP later withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti-led government in 2018. Efforts at government formation by the regional players, the PDP and the National Conference, yielded no results and the then governor ordered the dissolution of the House.

A year later, Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status, granted under Article 370, as well as its statehood and was split into two Union Territories.

Modi had on Thursday said that preparations had begun for the Assembly elections and the day was not far when statehood would be restored to Jammu and Kashmir.

In an order on Friday, the Election Commission said Assembly polls would be held in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Witnessing the participation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Commission has also directed for the updation of the electoral rolls in the UT of J&K from July 1 as the qualifying date,” the order, signed by joint director Anuj Chandak, said.

The order quoted chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar as having said, after the Lok Sabha polls, that the participation in Jammu and Kashmir inspired hope.

The Election Commission has in the past faced allegations of delaying the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir at the behest of the government of the day, although it has always denied these allegations.

Last October, the CEC had insinuated that the right time for elections here had not come, earning him a rebuke from former chief minister Omar Abdullah who asked why he was denying democratic rights to Jammu and Kashmir residents. This was before the apex court set the September 30 deadline.

On Friday, the Election Commission said that exercises such as the rationalisation of the locations of polling stations to make them more convenient would start on June 25.

The electoral rolls will be updated with the cut-off date of July 1 in the poll-bound states and Union territories — Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Jammu and Kashmir — the commission said.

Draft rolls will be published on July 25, after which voters can file claims and objections till August 9. The final rolls will be published by August 20.