No increase in Wards, only rationalization
Discrepancies mainly observed in Corporations
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 25: Delimitation of the Urban Local Bodies being done by the State Election Commission (SEC) is nearing completion and will be followed by the revision of electoral rolls but there will be no increase in number of the Wards but only rationalization.
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Official sources told the Excelsior that delimitation of all Municipal Councils and Committees across Jammu and Kashmir has been completed while it is nearing completion for Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations. However, there will be no increase in number of the Wards in any of the Urban Local Bodies.
“The Wards will only be rationalized,” they said, adding for increasing numbers of the Wards in the Corporations, Councils and Committees, either the Municipal Corporations and Committees Act has to be amended or there has to be fresh Census whose figures are to be taken into account.
Only when delimitation of the Wards in the Urban Local Bodies is completed, the revision of electoral rolls will be taken up, the sources said, adding presently the revision exercise for the Panchayats is on and final electoral rolls of the Rural Bodies will be published on January 6, 2025.
Rationalization of Wards was necessitated especially in Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations due to discrepancies in number of electorates. There were extraordinary large number of voters in some of the Wards in both the Corporations and low in others.
As per the sources, there are Wards with electorates in the range of 2000 to 3000 on one side and 12,000 to 15,000 on the other extreme in JMC and SMC. Similar variance was there in some of the Municipal Councils and Committees also.
Amphalla and Chak Changarwan Wards in Jammu Municipal Corporation had 2460 and 2873 votes respectively while Gole and Bhour Gadi Garh Wards had 14305 and 15158 electorates respectively.
Similarly in Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Chatterhama and Jamia Masjid Wards had 2439 and 4359 voters respectively as against 15375 and 15464 in Hamdaniya Colony and Zainakot Wards respectively.
“Rationalization of the Wards was aimed at addressing these discrepancies,” the sources said but added that problems in the Wards of Municipal Councils and Committees were less as compared to two Corporations of Jammu and Srinagar. However, all these discrepancies have either been addressed or are in the process of corrections and will be in the public domain soon.
While final electoral rolls of Panchayats are due to be published on January 6, 2025, the revision of voter lists of the Urban Local Bodies is likely to be taken up thereafter but a final call has to be taken by the State Election Commission headed by BR Sharma.
“The delimitation has, however, not been taken up in the case of Panchayats as no discrepancies like that of Corporations were found there,” the sources said. However, they added that elections to both Panchayats as well as Municipalities will depend on the submission of report by the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) Commission which has been assigned the task of deciding percentage of reservation to be given to the OBCs in the Local Bodies.
The Municipalities, Panchayats and BDCs are now without elected members for nearly one year. While term of the Municipalities ended in October-November last year, the Panchayats completed their tenure on January 9 this year. Since term of the BDCs was co-terminus with the Panchayats, they too ceased to exist when five-year tenure of the Panchayats ended.
However, the District Development Councils whose elections were held for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2020 have their term till January 2026.
The last Panchayat and Municipal elections were held from September to November 2018. The Panchayat polls were held on a non-party basis while Municipal elections were conducted on party basis.
A total of 27,281 Panchs (Panchayat members) and Sarpanchs (Village Headmen) were elected in the 2018 elections.
Complete Panchayat elections in 2018 were held after decades while Municipal polls in the same year were conducted after 13 years.
Three-tier Panchayati Raj System in Jammu and Kashmir was completed for the first time with the elections held to the District Development Councils in December 2020. There are 20 DDCs in J&K-10 each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions. The DDCs will complete their term in January 2026.
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