Fresh delimitation of Wards to be conducted
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 20: The Election Authorities are set to order revision of electoral rolls for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir followed by delimitation of the segments.
Elections to both Urban and Rural Local Bodies are due in October-November as they will complete their five-year term by then.
Official sources told the Excelsior that revision of electoral rolls for Municipal elections has to be ordered by Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) PK Pole while similar exercise for the Panchayat polls is to be directed by the State Election Commission (SEC) which presently is lying defunct.
“The Government will have to appoint the State Election Commissioner before the exercise for Panchayat polls is set into motion. If there is delay in setting up of the SEC, powers can also be given to the CEO,” they said.
Post of the SEC is lying vacant since February after term of KK Sharma, the first and only State Election Commissioner in Jammu and Kashmir, ended. Sharma had also served as Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor before he was appointed as the SEC in October 2020 for conduct of first-ever elections to the District Development Councils (DDCs).
“Revision of the electoral rolls will be conducted by the District Electoral Officers (DEOs),” they said, adding that revision would be made easy as Special Summary Revision was conducted by the Election Commission early this year and final rolls were published on May 27.
Besides revision of electoral rolls, the delimitation of Wards in Municipal Corporations, Councils and Committees in the ULBs and Sarpanch and Panch segments in the Panchayats will also has to be carried out before conduct of elections as seats reserved for Women, SC, STs have to be rotated after two terms.
Besides rotation, the delimitation can also change areas of certain Wards depending upon local demands.
The Delimitation for ULBs is to be carried out by the Housing and Urban Development Department and that of Panchayats by the Rural Development Department.
Number of electorates in Jammu and Kashmir following Special Summary Revision had gone up to 85 lakh.
Sources said the electoral rolls for Municipalities and Panchayats can be taken from Special Summary Revision and then updated.
Sources pointed out that 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 all Councils and Committees in Jammu and Kashmir 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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