# Jammu and Kashmir polls are history in the making: CEC Rajiv Kumar 2026-08-16T19:26:58+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday described the ongoing Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir as 'history in the making', noting long queues of voters at polling stations where boycotts were once called. The second phase of polling, covering 26 seats, saw over 46% turnout by 3 p.m. and proceeded peacefully, according to officials. Kumar said 100% CCTV coverage was in place for this phase. He praised voters, including youngsters, women, and senior citizens, for patiently waiting to cast their votes. 'It is a festival of democracy,' he said, adding that voting is taking place in areas where it did not happen earlier and that the impact of this election will be felt for a long time. The CEC made the remarks in New Delhi alongside fellow election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. The elections in the Union Territory are being held after a decade-long gap. ## Coverage - thehindu.com This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Election Commission of India, Gyanesh Kumar, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajiv Kumar, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/jammu-and-kashmir-polls-are-history-in-the-making-cec-rajiv-kumar/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/jammu-and-kashmir-polls-are-history-in-the-making-cec-rajiv-kumar/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/