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A twenty-five-person team from RLEK went to Jammu and Kashmir as Independent Observers for the 2002 Assembly Elections. In total, they spent over a month in the state, arriving ten days before the elections began and covering all four phases of the election across the state.
While in J&K, the team assessed the pre and post election atmosphere as well as conditions and conduct on polling days. Sometimes staying in villages, houseboats and churches, the team maintained their independent status at all times, but gathered the opinions of officials, media, voters, as well as those who had chosen not to exercise their franchise. RLEK fully appreciates the support of Mr Pramod Jain, J&K Chief Electoral Officer, for directing all District Election Officers to extend full support and co-operation to the team.
From the team's observations, a report has been compiled which aims to give an impartial and objective account of the elections and assess the extent to which they were genuine, free and fair. In order to prevent any kind of accusations of bias towards any political party, the report was made public on October 9th, one day before the announcement of the election results. It is also important to note that RLEK refrained from associating in any way with any political party. Moreover, financial aid or aid-in-kind from any of the parties was also refused. In fact, the only small financial support accepted was from Christian Aid for publication of the report.
To download the report in Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections 2002 Report DOWNLOAD in pdf format
If you would like to receive a hardcopy of the report, please email us at e-mail
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