SRINAGAR: The BJP is always ready for elections and it is up to the Election Commission (EC) to decide when the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls will be held, Union minister Jitendra Singh said here on Saturday.

The Lok Sabha MP from Udhampur also said the the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has improved a lot over the last few years.

"It is up to the EC to decide when the election will be conducted. As far as the BJP is concerned, it is always ready for every election - whether it is the panchayat, Assembly or Parliament," Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

The Union minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) also said "there have been no incidents of stone-pelting (in Jammu and Kashmir) for so many years now. Encounters do not take place while walking on the roads. The status of tourism is such that houseboats and hotels are full of tourists".

Singh said Jammu and Kashmir has an important role to play in India's growth story as it emerges as a powerful country in the next 25 years, as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The prime minister says India will emerge as a powerful nation in the world in the next 25 years and in that journey of development, Jammu and Kashmir has an important role to play," he said.