Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday assured the House that the government was making necessary arrangements to hold elections to urban local bodies and panchayats in the Union territory at the earliest. He, however, flagged that the post of state election commissioner was presently vacant.
In a written reply to a question of Congress MLA Tariq Hameed Karra in the Legislative Assembly, Abdullah said the superintendence, direction and control of preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of elections under the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, J&K Municipal Act and J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000, rests with the State Election Commission (SEC).
“The Commission (SEC) is making necessary arrangements for holding panchayat and urban local bodies’ elections at the earliest. However, the position of state election commissioner is lying vacant at present,” he said, adding that the report submitted by the Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Dedicated Backward Classes Commission for determining the quota of reserved seats was under examination, and further steps would be taken accordingly.
CM Abdullah informed the House that the term of panchayats and block development councils (BDCs) expired on January 9, while the district development council (DDC) term will end on February 24. He said the tenure of the Srinagar municipal corporation ended on November 5, 2023, while that of Jammu’s civic body also ended in the same month on November 14.
Terms of all municipal councils and committees expired between October and November 2023, the CM added.
Abdullah said panchayat ‘halqas’ were delimited prior to the 2018 elections on the basis of the 2011 census. “According to the Panchayati Raj act, fresh delimitation of panchayat ‘halqas’ can be undertaken only after publication of the population figures of the general census. Since no census has been conducted after 2011, there is no proposal for fresh delimitation at present,” he said.
On reservation, the CM said rotation of sarpanch and panch wards will be carried out by the rural development department, while reservation of municipal wards will be undertaken by the SEC after approval and notification of the OBC commission report.
He said electoral rolls for panchayat elections have already been revised with January 1, 2025, as the qualifying date, while revision of municipal electoral rolls will be taken up after completion of delimitation and directions from the government.
Abdullah also informed that the tender process for the procurement of election material for panchayat polls has been completed and is underway for DDC elections. He said 30,000 ballot boxes have been purchased and distributed to districts, while a MoU has been signed with the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission for providing 7,000 multi-post electronic voting machines for ULB elections.
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