J&K officials asked to meet timeline of final publication
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 11: The Election Commission of India (ECI) today reviewed the progress of ongoing Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir with Election Department officials and all 20 Deputy Commissioners (DCs) who have also been designated as the District Electoral Officers (DEOs).
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Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) PK Pole, other officials of the Election Department and the Deputy Commissioners joined the meeting via video conferencing which was chaired by senior officials of the Election Commission from New Delhi.
Final electoral rolls of the UT are due to be published on August 20 as September 30 is the deadline set by the Supreme Court of India for conduct of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
While no official statement was issued after the meeting, sources said the Election Commission officials are reported to have called for meeting timelines for Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls which has been ordered ahead of the Assembly elections which are due in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Various other issues pertaining to preparations for the Assembly elections and Summary Revision figured at the meeting. The Election Commission officials took review of all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir,’’ the sources said.
They added that the rationalization/rearrangement of Polling Stations in the Union Territory was also discussed. Number of Polling Stations to be added, shifted or undergo a change of nomenclature was taken up.
Control Tables Updation status for all Assembly constituencies in the district, health of electoral rolls, removal of discrepancies in the rolls, EPIC with primary emphasis on improvement of image quality and readiness for preparation of integrated draft roll with reference to July 1, 2024 as the qualifying were the other issues that surfaced at the meeting.
Other issues that were reportedly discussed include status of house to house verification through Booth Level Officers (BLOs) including number of households to be verified, already verified and timeline for completion of remaining households.
As per the schedule released by the Election Commission, the final electoral rolls will be published on August 20 i.e. a day after the culmination of 52-day long annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath Ji shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas. The Supreme Court of India while delivering its verdict in favour of abrogation of Article 370 on December 11, 2023, had directed the Election Commission to hold Assembly elections in J&K before September 30, 2024.
Besides 90 seats where elections are to be held including 47 in Kashmir division and 43 in Jammu division, there is a provision for nomination of five MLAs including two women, two Kashmiri migrants, one of them a woman, and one Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) refugee.
Other than this, 24 Assembly seats are reserved for PoJK which is in illegal occupation of Pakistan.
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