SEC awaits Govt response on OBC Comm report
ULB voter lists to be taken out from SSR or SIR
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 15: Voters in the Panchayats of Jammu and Kashmir are set to reach around 72 lakh as electoral revision has been completed and the final rolls are expected to be published on May 20. The increase in number of voters comes around at 3.2 percent.
Nearly two-month long exercise for revision of Panchayat electoral rolls was completed today by the State Election Commission (SEC). The rolls have now been sent for publication and the final lists will be out on May 20.
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State Election Commissioner Shantmanu told the Excelsior that the electoral rolls revision exercise has been completed today. Hopefully, he said, the final electoral rolls will be published on May 20.
On whether the revision for Municipal electoral rolls will also be taken up after Panchayats, the SEC said as per the provisions in the Act, the voter lists for Urban Local Bodies are taken from the Assembly rolls.
The Assembly voter rolls are expected to be updated either through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) or Special Summary Revision (SSR) exercise in Jammu and Kashmir. While announcing SIR exercise in 16 States and three UTs yesterday, the Election Commission of India deferred the revision in the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh besides Himachal Pradesh, the hilly States and UTs citing weather conditions there.
“There were 69.80 lakh electorates in Panchayats prior to revision. The number has now gone up to around 72 lakh, an increase of 3.2 percent,” the sources said. In fact, there was an increase of 3.50 lakh voters and 1.25 lakh deletions, they added.
As reported exclusively by the Excelsior earlier, the SEC has written to the UT Government on the fate of OBC Commission report which was submitted by the Panel Chairman Justice (Retd) Janak Raj Kotwal in February, 2025.
“The Government response is, however, awaited,” the sources said.
Sources pointed out that the elections to Panchayats can be held only after the Government takes a decision on OBC Commission report as the OBCs have to be given reservation in the Local Bodies after a law to this effect was passed by the BJP Government in Parliament before Omar Abdullah Government was formed in the UT. Presently, SCs, STs and women have reservation in the Local Bodies.
The OBC Commission was set up by the Lieutenant Governor’s administration for determining percentage of reservation for OBCs in the Local Bodies.
The Panchayats ceased to exist in Jammu and Kashmir on January 9, 2024 and the UT is without the elected Panchayats for past over two years now.
Similar is the case with the Municipalities which completed their term in October-November 2023. Term of the Block Development Councils (BDCs) was co-terminus with the Panchayats and their tenure also ended on January 9, 2024.
Tenure of the District Development Councils (DDCs) ended on February 24, 2026.
Now, the Jammu and Kashmir is without the elected Local Bodies with all three tiers of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) non-existent.
This was for the first time that the Jammu and Kashmir had all three elected Institutions of the PRIs.
During budget session of the Legislature, the Government, in response to several questions, didn’t give any timeline for the Local Body elections.
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