Ballot boxes to be used, EVMs not found feasible
Voter revision, rotation of seats to start shortly
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 8: After completion of final electoral rolls and rotation of draft reserved seats for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), the State Election Commission (SEC) is now set to order a similar exercise by the middle of this month for Panchayat elections.
State Election Commissioner BR Sharma told the Excelsior that an exercise for revision of electoral rolls and rotation of reserved seats for the Panchayat elections is being undertaken shortly.
“Most likely the exercise will begin in the middle of this month and will be completed within 15-20 days,” he said.
The SEC is responsible for conduct of Panchayat elections and the CEO for Municipal polls.
Municipal polls will be held first followed by the Panchayat elections as was done in 2018. ULB elections were held after 13 years in 2018 while Panchayat polls were conducted after several decades.
The CEO had recently published draft reservation list for ULB Wards which will be finalized after objections while final voter list has already been issued.
In Panchayat elections also, sources said, 33 percent Sarpanch and Panch segments will be reserved for women while SCs, STs, SC women and ST women will also get reservation based on their population.
“The Rural Development Department will undertake the exercise for rotation of reserved constituencies of Panchayats–both Sarpanchs and Panchs,” the sources said, adding revision of voters will be taken up by the District Panchayat Election Officers.
As per the sources, the Panchayat elections are likely to be conducted using ballot boxes as Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were not found feasible for such a lengthy exercise.
In 2018 also, the Panchayat polls were held using ballot boxes.
“Although a decision on whether to hold Panchayat elections on party or non-party basis has to be taken by the Government, the chances are that the polls will be held on non-party basis like 2018,” the sources said.
Five-year term of the Panchayats will end on January 9, 2024 and in view of this Panchayat polls are likely to be held in November-December.
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 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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