Stage set for tomorrow’s polling in high profile Udhampur LS seat amid high security
Jammu and Kashmir has five Lok Sabha constituencies and each one will go to polls in separate phases because of security reasons.
The Union Expenditure Secretary Girish Chandra Murmu was on Friday appointed the new Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, replacing Governor Satya Pal Malik who has been transferred to and appointed as Governor of Goa. Former Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur will be the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said.
The new appointments are made in almost three months after the Centre abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, revoking its special status and splitting the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which will come into play on October 31.
A 1985 batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer from the Gujarat cadre, Murmu was the Principal Secretary under Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat and is supposed to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah.
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Murmu was appointed OSD in the Expenditure Department in November 2018. His retirement would have come this November. He will be administered oath of office on 31 October in Srinagar after which he will be the administrative head of Kashmir and Jammu provinces.
He will be administered oath of office on 31 October in Srinagar after which he will be the administrative head of Kashmir and Jammu provinces.
Former Chief Information Commissioner and Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur is a 1977 batch IAS officer, of the Tripura Cadre, Mathur had retired as CIC in November 2018 after serving as Defence Secretary from 2013 to 2015. He was also the Chief Secretary of Tripura.
The President also appointed PS Sreedharan Pillai, the BJP’s Kerala state President, as Governor of Mizoram.
Jammu and Kashmir has been under the Governor’s rule since 19 June, 2018 when the PDP-BJP coalition government fell as the latter withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti-led alliance regime. The then Governor NN Vohra, while imposing Governor’s rule, did not dissolve the Assembly. Satya Pal Malik had been in-charge of the Jammu and Kashmir administration since he took over as governor two months later.
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