Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 2: The Election Department has cleared decks for holding elections to four seats of MLCs and Block Development Councils by publishing electoral rolls and replying to the queries raised by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The Election Commission would announce a final decision on elections for four seats of MLCs while a decision on holding Block Development Council (BDC) elections would be taken by the State Election Department after getting a nod from the State Government.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has directed the Election Department to expedite process for holding both elections immediately. As electoral college for both the elections was same, the two elections could also be held simultaneously, they said.
They added that once the election dates were notified by the ECI for holding election to four seats of MLCs from Panchayat quota, the Government would decide whether to hold the BDC elections simultaneously or go for another date.
The Election Department has published revised electoral rolls for both the elections. Total number of voters stood at 33,540 in the State. Voters in Jammu division included 15,628 (13,678 Panches and 1950 Sarpanches) while electorates in Kashmir division were 17,912 (15,767 Panches and 2145 Sarpanches).
Sources said the fresh and updated figures for the election of four seats of Legislative Council have been communicated to the Election Commission, which was responsible for holding the polling. They added that some more queries raised by the Commission with regard to the election of MLCs have also been clarified by the Election Department.
The election was to be held for four seats of Legislative Council, which were to be elected by Sarpanches and Panches of the State after nearly four decades while the Panchayat members would elect chairpersons of 143 BDCs across the State for the first time.
This was for the first time that second tier of the Panchayats i.e. the BDCs were being elected in the State. Last time, the complete elections for Panchayats were held in 1974. Elections for few Panchayats were also held in 2001 but they were dissolved prematurely.
The chairpersons of the BDCs would be eligible to be nominated as members of the District Development Boards (DDBs).
Four seats of the MLCs for which the elections were being held have been named as MLC (J-I and J-2) and MLC (K-I and K-2). J stands for Jammu and K for Kashmir.
As the elections were being held under RPA, the eligibility criteria for the contest would be same as that of MLA. The recognized political parties can field a maximum of four candidates, two each for Jammu and Kashmir province seats while Independent candidates can also jump the fray to test their luck.
A total of 286 polling stations would be set up for the election in 143 blocks of the State i.e. each block would have two polling stations each. The polling stations would be located in a single building with separate Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Every Sarpanch and Panch would cast his vote twice in separate EVMs—one each for two candidates.
Similar would be the process for holding elections to the BDCs. However, the ballot papers would be used for election of the BDCs.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu province and Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir province would be appointed as the Returning Officer for both the seats falling in Jammu and Kashmir provinces respectively. Each District Election Officer will be appointed as Assistant Returning Officers for the polling stations/CD blocks falling with the territorial limits of his district. However, in case a CD block falls in more than one district, the District Election Officer having administrative control of more than 50 per cent of Panchayat Halqas falling within that CD block will function as Assistant Returning Officer for that CD block.
There are a total of 36 seats in the Upper House. However, present strength of the House was 30 as six seats, four reserved for Panchayats and two for ULBs were vacant.
It was in 1974 that four seats reserved for Panchayats in the Upper House were filled after the elections. After that the seats remained vacant as complete elections to Panchayats were never held. It was in September 2011 that election process for Panchayats was completed after being set into motion in April last year.
Strength of the House prior to 2005 remained confined to 30 as four seats reserved for Panchayats and two for Municipalities (Urban Local Bodies) couldn’t be filled in the absence of elections to both Urban and Rural Local Bodies.
However, two seats of Urban Local bodies were filled in October 2005 as ULB elections were held in January 2005 after a gap of 26 years. PDP’s Nizam-ud-Din Bhat was elected from a seat reserved for Kashmir from the ULBs while former Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council and senior Congress leader, Arvinder Singh Micky was elected from Jammu region.
Both these seats have also fallen vacant as Mr Bhat quit membership of the Upper House in 2009 after his election to the Legislative Assembly while Micky’s term expired on September 15 last year.
Elections to the Municipal Corporations and Committees were not held despite being due in January-February 2010.
With the filling up of four seats in the Upper House from the quota of Panchayats shortly, the number of seats in the Upper House would rise to 34 as two seats of ULBs only would remain vacant.
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