New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that elections in Jammu and Kashmir can take place at any time and a decision on the issue has to be taken by the poll panel.
The Centre was giving a roadmap for the restoration of electoral democracy and complete statehood.
However, the Central government told the apex court that it cannot give an exact timeline for restoring statehood to J&K. It clarified that the union territory status will be temporary.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the decision on elections in J&K has to be taken by the Election Commission of India and the state poll panel.
Mehta told a bench that polls in J&K will be held in three stages - first there will be panchayat polls, second municipal polls and then legislative assembly polls.
Mehta said that the initiatives taken by the Centre to restore stability in the region are progressing and full Statehood is a question to be decided based on the degree of normalcy.
On August 29, the Centre told the top court that the union territory status of J&K is not a permanent thing and that it will make an elaborate statement on the vexatious political issue in the court on August 31.
The five-judge constitution bench, hearing the pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370, had asked the Centre to set a specific time frame for the restoration of electoral democracy in the erstwhile state.
(With PTI, Live Law inputs)
