Kashmir polls should be held at the earliest: Advani

RAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani on Thursday said assembly polls should be held in trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest or it would send a "wrong message" to the world.

The BJP leader said: "Elections should be held in Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest because keeping the state without polls will send a wrong message across the world and it's also not in the interests of the country."

The Election Commission has deferred announcing polls for Jammu and Kashmir while giving election dates for five states - Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram.

Advani said: "The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will return to power at the centre in the next parliamentary polls as the present government led by the Congress has failed to live up to people's expectations."

He was speaking at Raipur airport on way back to Delhi. Chhattisgarh, which has a 90-member assembly, goes to polls Nov 14 and 20.

Advani launched his party's poll campaign in Chhattisgarh on Thursday with an impressive public rally at Bilaspur, 110 km from here.

He said the party-led Chhattisgarh government had performed well and appealed to the people to give one more chance to the BJP for maintaining the "development flow".