Separate process to be carried out for Panchayat polls
Voter lists to be extracted from Summary Revision data
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 14: To review preparations for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) elections, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) PK Pole held a meeting with top officials of Jammu and Kashmir while preparations for Panchayat polls will start after takeover by BR Sharma as the State Election Commissioner.
Pole held virtual meeting with senior officers and discussed with them the steps required to update Municipal electoral rolls in J&K where the ULB as well as Panchayat elections are due in October-November this year.
All Deputy District Election Officers of the UT, Joint Commissioners of Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations, Executive Officers of Municipal Council/Committees, all Election Naib Tehsildars, all technical persons related to Municipal Electoral Rolls and Scientist-D NIC attended the meeting among others.
Officials said the Municipal Electoral Rolls are being extracted from Special Summary Revision rolls which was completed on May 27 this year.
“Once the rolls are taken out, addition, deletion, corrections etc will be done by the staff before finalization of the voter lists,” they said, adding the process is being completed expeditiously.
The CEO is reported to have assessed the progress on updating Municipal Electoral Rolls in all Municipal Corporations, Councils and Committees across Jammu and Kashmir and issued necessary directions for expeditious completion of the task.
As per the officials, the process for Panchayat elections has to be formally started by the State Election Commissioner. Only today, the Government appointed BR Sharma as new SEC and exercise for the polls will start once he takes over the charge.
“Separate revision of electoral rolls has to be carried out for Panchayat polls,” the officials said.
Elections for 78 Urban Local Bodies and 4192 Panchayats are due in October-November this year. There are two Municipal Corporations, 19 Councils and 57 Committees in the UT and their number is expected to be same while number of Panchayats is 4192. Number of the Panchayats can go up if fresh delimitation is held.
Elections to ULBs were last held in September-October 2018 after 13 years while Panchayat polls were conducted in October-November same year after four decades.
Term of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) will be complete on November 5 and that of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) on November 14 while terms of rest all Municipal bodies including Councils and Committees in the UT will end between October-November.
Five-year term of the Panchayats will end on January 9, 2024.
Term of Urban Local Bodies is counted from the day of their first meeting while that of Panchayats is taken into account the day they were constituted.
“In such a scenario, elections to Urban Local Bodies are required to be completed before the end of October and that of Panchayats in middle of December this year,” sources said.
Term of the Block Development Councils (BDCs) will end in October 2024 while the District Development Councils (DDCs) will complete their tenure in January 2026.
“Generally elections to all three tiers of Panchayati Raj System are held simultaneously. However, since elections to DDCs were held for first time in Jammu and Kashmir, there was gap of two years in their and Panchayats term while there was an year’s difference in Panchayats and BDC term,” sources said.
They said the Jammu and Kashmir Government will take a decision after taking security situation and other arrangements in consideration on when to hold the elections. A call is expected only after completion of Shri Amarnath Ji pilgrimage on August 31.
Number of electorates in Jammu and Kashmir had gone up to 83.59 lakh when Special Summary Revision was carried out last year and final electoral rolls were published on November 25 last year. The numbers further went up to 8.5 million when the Special Summary Revision was undertaken by the Election Commission this year and final rolls were published on May 27 this year.
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