Ballot boxes in rural areas, EVMs in Municipal polls
NC, BJP, PDP, Cong, NPP raise different views
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 10: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K Hirdesh Kumar, who happens to be the Election Authority for conduct of Panchayat and Municipal by-elections in the Union Territory, has said that by-elections to both the Local Bodies will be held shortly and all arrangements for them have been finalized including logistics and procurement of election material.
While the BJP, Congress and Nationalist Panthers Party remained committed to participation in by-elections though two of them flagged serious issues like security of candidates and Coronavirus pandemic, the PDP sought release of its president Mehbooba Mufti first while the National Conference said it hasn’t received any communication from the Government on conduct of the polls so far.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the CEO briefed representatives of parties who attended the meeting through video conferencing that by-elections to both Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) vacancies will be held across Jammu and Kashmir shortly and most of the preparations for them have been finalized. He told the invitees that Panchayat elections will be held on non-party basis while Municipal polls will be conducted on party basis.
Further, Kumar told the representatives of political parties that ballot boxes will be used for Panchayat by-polls while Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be utilized for the Municipal by-elections.
Detailed schedule of the elections is being issued shortly, Kumar said.
He said that continuous updation of Panchayat electoral rolls from January 1, 2020 is under process with the aim that no eligible voter is left unregistered. As far the updation of Municipal electoral rolls is concerned, a Special summary revision is being conducted with the qualifying date as January 1, 2020.
Kumar assured all the political parties that Panchayat and Municipal by-elections will be conducted in free, fair, transparent, ethical, participative and COVID safe manner. He informed the participants that by-elections can’t be indefinitely deferred as the Government has now decided to conduct by-polls on the analogy of Assembly elections being conducted in the country after observing all COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
He further assured that all COVID-19 related arrangements shall be ensured at polling stations including the provision of face masks, sanitizers, thermal scanners etc and proper social distancing will be ensured during the entire election process.
Reacting to the meeting, National Conference provincial president Devender Singh Rana said no communication has been received by party president Dr Farooq Abdullah regarding the holding of Panchayat polls from the Government.
“As and when the communication is received by Dr Farooq Abdullah he will discuss the matter in the party forum and take a decision on the future course of action,’’ Rana said.
Though there was no BJP representative at the meeting of political parties, BJP UT president Ravinder Raina said the party wants both Panchayat and Municipal vacancies to be filled at the earliest followed by elections to third-tier i.e. the District Development and Planning Boards (DDPBs).
Congress UT president GA Mir told the Excelsior that the Congress is not opposed to the elections and it wants vacancies to be filled in the Block Development Councils (BDCs) as well followed by elections to the DDPBs apart from scheduled by-polls to Panchayats and Municipalities but at the same time there have been genuine concerns of Sarpanchs, Panchs and candidates as most of the vacancies fall in Kashmir where number of Panchayat representatives have been killed.
“COVID is also a concern and the SOP must be followed during the elections,’’ Mir said and called for making elections to the third-tier of Panchayati Raj System i.e. the DDPBs time-bound.
Nationalist Panthers Party (NPP) leader and former Minister Harshdev Singh also raised concerns about security of existing Panchayat representatives saying number of them have been killed by the militants. He said security is being given to only the BJP leaders while the Opposition parties have been ignored.
“You have already taken a decision on conduct of elections and have called the political leaders afterwards,’’ he regretted. However, he said the NPP will contest by-elections to Panchayats as well as Municipalities.
PDP leader Narinder Singh Raina who was present in the meeting said their party president Mehbooba Mufti should be released first and only then they will take call on participation in the elections.
As per the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department notification, the maximum vacancies of Sarpanchs for which elections will be held were 157 in Budgam district of Kashmir and minimum six in Samba district of Jammu region.
Posts of Sarpanchs in other districts on which elections will be held include Pulwama (152), Anantnag (137), Baramulla (149), Kulgam (132), Bandipora (50), Ganderbal (42), Kupwara (32), Shopian (75) and Srinagar (9), all in the Kashmir valley.
Vacancies of Sarpanchs in Jammu region include Udhampur (17), Reasi (10), Ramban (13), Doda (18), Jammu (17), Kathua (22), Kishtwar (23), Poonch (11) and Rajouri (16).
“Once the process of by-election to the vacancies of Sarpanchs and Panchs are completed, the Government is likely to go for elections to the District Planning and Development Boards (DPDBs) to complete the process of three-tier system for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir,” sources said, adding that elections to the Boards could be held under 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution of India.
According to sources, the Election Authority who happened to be the Chief Electoral Officer, J&K in the absence of separate Election Commission for Panchayats and Municipalities, will announce election schedule anytime now including total number of phases in which elections will be held.
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