Eye on BDC polls, govt expands elections department

SAC approves creation of 127 new posts of EAs

SRINAGAR: A week ahead of publication of final electoral rolls for the elections to the 316 block development councils (BDCs) in Jammu and Kashmir, the State Administrative Council (SAC)—equivalent to cabinet in popular government, has expanded the election department by approving the creation of 127 posts of election assistants in the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Jammu and Kashmir.

The SAC met recently under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik and approved the creation of 50 posts of Election Assistant (Senior Scale) in Level 4 (Rs 25500-81100) and 77 posts of Election Assistant (Junior Scale) in Level 2 (Rs 19900-63200), an official spokesman said.

The state electoral authorities earlier this month had issued a notification of the schedule for preparation of electoral rolls for BDC polls and also appointed Electoral Registration Officers/Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, thus setting in motion the process of strengthening the architecture of local self-governance.

After successful conduct of Panchayat elections last year, the next step aimed at strengthening the grassroots democracy is the electing the BDCs, to be followed subsequently by elections to District Planning and Development Boards (DPDBs), thus establishing the three-tier Panchayati Raj System, which has remained a distant dream for Jammu and Kashmir.

The BDC poll process for preparation of electoral rolls had begun on September 9, and the draft electoral roll was published on September 14.

The last date for filing claims and objections is September 19 while the last date for disposal of claims and objections would be September 21 even as the final electoral roll would be published on September 23.

On Monday, after the posts were created, the official spokesman said the creation of the new posts would help in implementing various initiatives of the Election Commission of India like ERONET, BLONET, District Contact Centre and others, besides, addressing the promotion issues of the departmental candidates.

“With the positioning of incumbents against these posts, the Election Department would be better equipped to provide efficient and timely services to the electors of J&K, complete time-bound assignments like updation of electoral rolls, enrolment of new voters, weeding out bogus or duplicate voters and providing of EPIC cards,” he added.