Ahead of notification, CEO Kumar briefs Lt Guv Murmu on elections to vacant panchayat, BDC berths

JAMMU: Four days before the expected date of issue of notification in this regard, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shailendra Kumar on Monday called on Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu and informed him about the preparations for the elections to vacant seats of panchayats and block development councils (BDCs) in the Union Territory.
According to credible sources, the elections to the nearly 13,000 vacant posts of panch and sarpanch in gram panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir is likely to be held next month and a notification is this regard is expected to be issued on January 25.
Following these, the Union Territory administration plans to hold elections for the District Planning and Development Boards (DPDBs) in March- April this year, thus completing the final layer of the three-tier Panchayati Raj System in Jammu and Kashmir, a first for the region.
Kumar who met the Lt Governor at the Raj Bhavan here informed him about the preparations for the elections to vacant seats of Panchayats and Block Development Councils in Jammu and Kashmir, besides arrangements being made for the celebrations of the upcoming National Voters' Day, an official spokesman said.
Kumar also briefed the Lt governor about the various activities undertaken by the Election Commission in Jammu and Kashmir for generating awareness of the electoral process and sensitising the voters especially newly eligible young voters towards their voting rights, the spokesman said.
The Lt Governor asked the Chief Electoral Officer to lay special focus on increasing the enrolment of eligible voters and stressed on the high importance of educating the voters about the value of electoral process to strengthen the roots of democratic setup.
As many as 13,000 posts of panch and sarpanch in gram panchayats in UT are lying vacant primarily for the want of contesting candidates especially in Kashmir Valley, when the elections to the local bodies were held in 2018.
Out of Kashmir's 20,093 panch and sarpanch seats, more than 12,500 seats have remained vacant in the rural bodies polls which were conducted by Governor Satya Pal Malik-led administration in nine phases between November 17 to December 11, 2018.
A Home Ministry official last week had said the entire election process is expected to be over by February end.
“We want to complete the election process for left-over Panchayat seats by end of February or first week of March,” the sources said, adding that Union Home Minister Amit Shah is keen on filling vacant seats to strengthen grassroots democracy in Kashmir.
Earlier this month, the government had constituted an Apex Level Committee headed by Principal Secretary to the Government, Home Department which was tasked to assess the ground level situation taking into consideration various requirements including security, logistics, personnel, equipment etc.
The panel was asked to draw a road map and detailed schedule for conduct of Elections to vacant Panchayats across the Union Territory and has submitted the report to the Government on 13 January.
The 2018 polls to the local bodies had witnessed poor participation with two major regional political parties -- the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party -- boycotting it, citing “repeated assaults” by the Centre on Article 35A which was abrogated along with other statues conferring special status to J&K.