SRINAGAR: The police in nocturnal raids arrested several top separatist leaders in an apparent crackdown aimed at preventing them from campaigning against the holding of elections to the J&K Assembly. The action sparked off clashes between groups of youth and the police in Srinagar, during which the latter fired teargas canisters in an attempt to bring the situation under control.
The first of the five-phased elections to 87-member state Assembly will be held in last week of November and the last one is scheduled for December 20.
A new government is likely to be in place by the end of December or early January 2015. The process of holding the democratic exercise has already been set in motion as the EC issued the notification for the first phase of polls earlier this week and with that mainstream political parties and activists started getting their act together and reach out the people to seek their votes.
