Objections to reservation to be disposed of next week
* Centre to be approached for paramilitary forces
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 15: The Municipal elections are likely to be held in four phases in Kashmir and three phases in Jammu division and a formal announcement of the polls is expected before the month-end.
The Election Authority is likely to finalize large number of objections received for draft reservation Wards next week before publication of final list of reservation, which is the last major formality left to be completed for announcement of the elections, official sources told the Excelsior.
“The Government is likely to seek additional paramilitary forces for the conduct of elections as existing troopers are busy in anti-militancy operations across the Union Territory,” they said.
As per the officials, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) PK Pole, who happens to be the Authority for holding elections to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), has been holding regular reviews of the preparations for elections to 77 Urban Local Bodies in the UT including 40 in Kashmir and 37 in Jammu, two of them Corporations (Jammu and Srinagar) and 19 Councils. Rest are the Municipal Committees.
The officials said the Election Department officials are busy in giving final touch to the election schedule but there is a possibility that Municipal polls might be announced well before the end of this month. The elections are likely to be held in four phases in Kashmir division and three phases in Jammu division.
“A gap of three to four days is likely to be given between two phases for easy rotation of paramilitary forces and police deployed for the election duty,” they said.
They added that the Election Authority has received a large number of objections to draft reservation list of Wards in Corporations, Councils and Committees. The Authority, like the previous election, has given 33 percent reservation to Women besides Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
The Election officials, as per the sources, are likely to dispose of the complaints next week before announcement of the elections. The Department has issued draft reservation list after conducting an extensive exercise and following all laid down rules and guidelines, they said.
“As Municipal elections are set to be followed by Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is likely to accept the Government demand for deployment of additional paramilitary forces for smooth conduct of elections,” the officials said.
They said if everything goes well, the Municipal elections are likely to conclude in the start of November.
Revised electoral rolls for the Municipal polls have already been published. Besides, all other major formalities required for the electoral exercise have either been completed or will be over within next few days.
The Municipal polls, as per the officials, are likely to be held on party-basis. The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are in place in sufficient numbers for conduct of the exercise.
Five-year term of the ULBs will be completed in first-week of December this year and the Municipalities will be in place before that.
As far as Panchayat polls are concerned, the revised voter lists and draft reservation of Sarpanch and Panch constituencies are yet to be issued. Once this is done, decks will be cleared for undertaking an exercise to Panchayat polls.
Sources said the Panchayat polls can be held after completion of Municipal polls.
In 2018 also, the Municipal polls were held in October followed by elections to the Panchayats. While Municipal polls were held after 13 years, the Panchayat elections were conducted after decades.
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 to be taken shortly, sources said.
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. 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.
The ULB votes increased with publication of final rolls last week and similarly there is a possibility that Panchayat electorates will also go up after revision is taken up.
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