Notwithstanding the violence and tension in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Amarnath land row, the Election Commission is frenetically engaged in preparations for the assembly elections to be held before November 20.

Asserting that it was working towards holding assembly polls in the state on time, Election Commission officials on Tuesday said the toughest task before the poll body at present was to ensure that ??revised?? elector?s photo identity cards (EPIC) were issued to the voters, taking into account security concerns.

??We are in regular touch with the state election commission. We don?t see any necessity to postpone the elections. The preparations are on and the polls will be held before November 20,?? a senior official in the EC told FE. He, however, asserted that fresh EPIC cards were being issued in the wake of reports that militants trained in Pakistan had procured such cards from the state administration.

Sources in the EC also indicated that at least one person in each household will be given a fresh identity cards, in the wake of the complaint. ??It may not be possible to check the authenticity of every EPICs issued to the voters. So we have started issuing fresh EPICs to at least one person in family,?? another official added.

The Commission had already issued more than 4 million voters identity cards in the state. Now, it has to issue at least 2.5 million new EPICs. ??The process has already been started. We will complete it by mid November,?? the official added.

A meeting of the state electoral officers with the Centre Election Commission has also been scheduled end of this week. An update of the pre-election process will be provided to the EC in this meeting.

When asked about the possibilities of changing the schedule of polls in the state in the wake of violence in parts of the state, an official said: ??The Centre or the state administrations are yet to give any information of such a situation to us. As of now, we are envisaging an election before November 20.?? ??We plan an election with three or four phases. Given the climatic conditions in certain parts of the states, the process must be over by November. Otherwise, we will have to wait till March,?? the official added.