- Some Wards have 4 times more voters than others
- Summary Revision to start anytime now in J&K
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 1: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to order Summary Revision of electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir for Parliamentary and Assembly voters with January 1, 2024 as cut off date and publication of final rolls on January 5 while the UT Government is reportedly mulling giving reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Panchayat and Municipalities like other States/UTs in the country.
Another major discrepancy has been detected in some Wards of ULBs especially the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) as it has been observed that few Wards have nearly four times more electorates than the others.
Reliable sources told the Excelsior that the Government is mulling giving reservation to OBCs as per their population in both Urban Local Bodies and Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir like Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) besides women.
Women have been given 33 percent reservation in Municipalities and Panchayats while SCs and STs were given quota based on their population. Within SCs and STs, SC and ST women have also been given reservation.
“Quota to OBCs in Municipal and Panchayat elections is under consideration of the Government and can be given based on their population,” the sources said. If the reservation to OBCs is given from present elections, it will require fresh exercise for reservation of Wards in Municipalities and Panchayats leading to delay in the polls, they added.
Further, as per the sources, a major discrepancy has been noticed in Wards of some Municipalities, mainly in the JMC which was detected during objections filed by the people. It has been noticed that some Wards have four times more voters than the others.
The discrepancy, as per the sources, could have been rectified by undertaking fresh delimitation of Municipalities. However, such an exercise was not undertaken by the Housing and Urban Development Department before the elections. Even delimitation has also not been done for Sarpanch and Panch segments of Panchayats by the Rural Development Department.
Five year term of most of the Municipalities including JMC and SMC is likely to end in November while that of Panchayats will end on December and January. Elections to Urban Local Bodies were held in October 2018 after 13 years while polls to Panchayats were conducted in November-December 2018 after decades.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India is set to order fresh Summary Revision of electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir like other States and Union Territories for Lok Sabha and Assembly voters.
The summary revision could begin within the next few days with cutoff date as 1.1.2024. Final electoral rolls are likely to be published on January 5.
This will be third Summary Revision of electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir after completion of delimitation exercise for Assembly elections. First such exercise was ordered after Delimitation Commission report was notified and final electoral rolls were published on November 25, 2022.
Another Summary Revision was ordered on March 24, 2023 and final rolls were published on May 25, 2023. Jammu and Kashmir has almost 85 lakh electorates.
The Election Authority had undertaken separate revision for electoral rolls for Municipalities while such an exercise for Panchayat polls is on and the rolls will be published on October 10.
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