*Resentment among Councillors grow, Election Authority invites objections
Sanjeev K Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 10: As the proposed notification issued by the Chief Electoral Officer J&K on September 4, 2023 has reserved many Wards of the Urban Local Body (ULB) represented by prominent persons including sitting Mayor, Deputy Mayor, present chief whip of Congress, many other senior BJP and Congress leaders along with some independent Councillors in Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), the development has triggered objections against the notification and many Councillors have demanded amendment in the same.
It is pertinent to mention here that in accordance with Section 10-A of the J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000 and Section 11-A of the J&K Municipal Act, 2000, Wards are to be reserved for Women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Municipal Bodies of J&K.
Thus based on the population data, Wards to be notified as reserved Wards for SCs, STs, Women (Open Category), Women (SC Category) and Women (ST Category) were worked out and Wards 19, 29, 41, 45, 56, 57, 59, 65, 67 and 74 were notified reserved for SCs while Wards 29, 56 and 65 for SC Women; Ward 60 for ST; Ward 63 for ST Woman and Wards 2, 5, 8, 12, 16, 18, 23, 26, 32, 36, 39, 40, 43, 46, 49, 52, 55, 61, 66, 72 and 73 were notified reserved for Women Open to give 33 per cent reservation to them.
However, the Chief Electoral Officer J&K has invited objections/suggestions till September 14, 2023 in relation to the proposed notification.
When contacted, Mayor, Rajinder Sharma, who is presently at the helm of affairs in the ULB and whose Ward number 16 has been reserved for Women Open in the proposed notification, said, though rotation of the JMC Wards for reservation is a matter as per the JMC Act but whatever the formula applied for this should be justified and all the Wards should remain reserved at least for one time.
“This is third time that ULB election is going to be held. It means till now each Ward would have been declared women reserved at least for once but this did not happen,” he maintained adding: “The Wards like 9, 20, 33 and 68 were never declared reserved for Women. That means somewhere something is not going in the proper way while there are Wards like 40, 16 etc which have been declared women reserved for the second time. Where is rationalization?”
Deputy Mayor, Baldev Singh Billawaria, whose Ward 56 has been notified reserved for SC Women said that rotation is a process in democracy and all should be given a chance.
“We are BJP soldiers and will work hard to again have the ULB represented by BJP,” he said.
Billawaria also said that they will go to the public to seek votes on the basis of works done by them.
Dwarka Chowdhary, Congress chief whip in the ULB claimed that pick and choose policy has been adopted in notifying reserved Wards.
“Why only Wards of some BJP leaders remained unreserved even for the third time and none of the Congress represented Ward got such a favourable treatment,” he said adding: “We are not against reservation but the pick and choose policy adopted here is highly objectionable.”
Congress Councillor, Rajni Bala of Ward 60, who continuously won for the second time from the Ward but this time her Ward has been reserved for ST, said there are many ST families in the Ward.
“No problem that some ST gets elected but earlier also the Ward was reserved for Women,” she informed adding that Congress has filed objection with the election authorities for the Wards wherever they felt wrong doing has taken place.
Senior leader of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), Shobat Ali, who won as an Independent candidate from Ward 74 but this time his Ward has been reserved for SC, said that reservation of Wards should be done as per population but this has not been done in his Ward.
“We are not against any community. All SCs, STs and others are our brothers but as the proposed notification of election authorities stated that population of the area was considered in making reservations, same was not done in Ward 74 (Bhatindi-Sunjwan area) which has more ST population but the Ward in proposed notification has been reserved for SC,” he claimed.
He said that either the Ward should be kept unreserved or should be reserved for ST.
“As an elected Councilor and as a leader of Gujjar community, I have filed objection with the concerned election authorities. The objection paper has support and signatures of 400 people of the area and we expect that a justified decision shall be taken by the concerned authorities,” he continued.
Many other Councillors, including those from the BJP also said why the Ward 33, represented by former Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta remained open for the third time continuously and most of the Wards represented by Congress were reserved.
Still more Councillors objected why the Wards like 9, represented by BJP’s Suneet Raina remained unreserved for the third time while Wards like 55 which remained unreserved only for once in 2005 while in 2018 it was reserved for SC and now it is notified reserved for Women Open.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
