Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have ramped up their activities to prepare strategies for the much-awaited Assembly polls though the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce the dates.

The parties are publicly exuding confidence that the ECI will hold the elections before the September deadline set by the Supreme Court but sources in political parties said they had their fingers crossed.

The worries have increased after Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipped mention of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections during his Parliament address on Tuesday while referring to elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand.

The scepticism notwithstanding, all major players — the National Conference, BJP, Congress and the People's Democratic Party — are busy in preparations for the elections.

The NC on Thursday concluded a two-day working committee meeting that was called to discuss the elections. The meeting was chaired by party president Farooq Abdullah and almost the entire top brass participated.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah, also the NC vice-president, said they had received directions from the NC president to speed up preparations for elections and work for further strengthening the party.

The NC recently won two of the three Parliament seats it contested in the Valley but Omar’s defeat from Baramulla denied them a clean sweep.

Omar on Thursday rebuffed questions over prospects of deferred polls following the Prime Minister’s Parliament speech, hoping elections will be held before the SC deadline.

“Why do you expect that the Prime Minister will repeatedly talk about Jammu and Kashmir? A few days ago, Prime Minister sahab came here to perform yoga where he assured people that there will be elections after which people will elect their own government,” he said.

“Where is the scope for doubt? The Election Commission has also started preparations and said they want early elections.”

The BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina said the party was confident that elections would be held. He explained that Modi had specifically mentioned in his speech that he was naming three states out of a bouquet of states where elections would be held. He said not naming Jammu and Kashmir was no proof that elections won't be held here.