Number of Panchayats 4500, voters 57 lakh
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 25: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today announced that Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held from February 15 i.e. within five days of culmination of budget session of the Legislature.
The significant decision of the State Government was conveyed by Mehbooba Mufti to Governor NN Vohra, who has for the past quite some time been calling for holding elections to both Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies, at the Raj Bhawan here today.
During last meeting between Vohra and Mehbooba few days back, the Governor had called for holding of Panchayat and Municipal elections in the State. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also asked the State to hold Panchayat elections to restore democracy at grass-root level, which would also help addressing people’s problems and pave way for development in the rural areas,
“The Chief Minister informed the Governor about various important issues discussed during the last Cabinet meeting held here few days back. She also informed about her Government’s decision to commence Panchayat elections from February 15, 2018,” an official handout issued by the Government after about half an hour Vohra-Mehbooba meeting, said.
The Panchayat elections will be held on non-party basis, sources said.
The budget session of the Legislature is scheduled to commence on January 2 and culminate on February 10. The Panchayat elections, as per the Chief Minister’s announcement, would start on February 15.
Sources told the Excelsior that the elections would start from plain areas like Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, Reasi districts in Jammu region and some parts of the Valley, where weather starts improving by the middle of February while in hilly areas of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, they would be held in March and April.
“The Panchayat elections could be extended to nearly two months as they had to be held without additional Central forces. Only Jammu and Kashmir Police and some companies of para-military forces, already deployed in the State, will be available for the elections,” sources said.
They added that number of the Panchayats, where elections will be held, have gone up to 4500 as compared to 4166 in 2011. Last elections to Panchayats were held in 2011 and the elected Panchayats had completed their term in June 2016. Presently, there were no elected Panchayats.
Out of 334 newly carved out Panchayats, 165 have been increased in Jammu division and 169 in Kashmir division. With this number of Panchayats in Jammu division has increased to 2121 as compared to 1956 in 2011. Number of the Panchayats has gone up to 2379 in Kashmir division as against 2210.
Panchayats of Ladakh region are included in Kashmir division.
As per the new arrangement, the people will only elect Panches as there will be no direct election of Sarpanches, like 2011. Sarpanch will be elected by Panches of that Panchayat, sources said, adding that the Government had decided to do away with the process of direct election of Sarpanches.
The main Opposition parties including National Conference and Congress have objected to the system of “indirect election” of Sarpanches and wanted previous system of “direct election” to be restored. However, the Government didn’t concede the Opposition demand and would go ahead with “indirect election” of Sarpanches.
Sources said the Election Department has also finalized voter lists for the Panchayat elections. Number of the electorates for Panchayat elections has come out at around 57 lakh after extensive exercise undertaken by the Election Department for updating electoral rolls.
The Election Department has also taken up the issue of supply of ballot boxes with their counterpart in Himachal Pradesh as the Panchayati Raj Act provides for holding Panchayat elections in the State using ballot boxes and ballot papers and not with the latest technique of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The Panchayat elections were last held in the State in April-May 2011 during National Conference-Congress coalition Government headed by Omar Abdullah after a gap of nearly four decades. However, the elected Panchayats had completed their five-year term in July 2016 and since then the elected Panchayats had been rendered defunct as the elections were not held to them.
The Central grants running into several hundreds of crores have been blocked due to delay in holding of Panchayat elections as the Union Government gave certain grants only to the elected Panchayats directly.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir from September 9-12 had also called for holding Panchayat and Municipal elections in the State.
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