Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 7: The Election Commission (EC) today appointed Divisional Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir as Returning Officers (ROs) for the elections to four seats of MLCs in the Legislative Council from the quota of Panchayat members as political parties geared up for the elections, the process of which would be set into motion on November 9 with the issuance of notification.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Pradeep Gupta would be Returning Officer for two seats of Jammu division, which have been named as J-1 and J-2 while Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar Samoon would be returning officer for two seats of Kashmir division, which have been designated as K-1 and K-2, official sources said.
Deputy Commissioners of all 22 districts of the State would act as Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) for the election.
Sources said 33,540 Sarpanchs and Panchs across the State would cast two votes. The Sarpanchs and Panchs elected from Jammu division would be entitled to cast two votes each only for the candidates of their division. The similar would be the process for Kashmir division. The Panchayat members of Ladakh region would be part of Kashmir division.
A total of 145 polling stations with 290 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be set up across the State i.e. one polling station for each Panchayat block. The voters would cast one vote for a candidate in first EVM and another votes in second EVM in both the divisions. Two candidates from each division securing highest number of votes would be declared elected as MLCs.
Any person eligible for contesting the election of MLA under Representation of People’s Act (RPA) could contest the election of MLC. However, the candidates of Jammu division could compete in Jammu and those of Kashmir in that division.
The process for elections would be set into motion with issuance of notification on November 9. The candidates can file their nomination papers till November 16 while scrutiny of documents would take place on November 17. Last date for withdrawal of documents has been fixed as November 19. Voting will be held on December 3 and counting of votes will take place on December 6. Entire election process would be completed before December 8.
Meanwhile, National Conference and Congress, the two coalition partners, have agreed in principle to contest two seats each. A final decision to this effect would be taken in the Co-ordination Committee meeting of the Alliance partners, sources said. Most likely, the two parties would contest one seat each in both divisions.
PCC (I) president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz, who happened to be the chairman of Co-ordination Committee, was expected to call a meeting soon to decide on jointly contesting the elections for four seats. The National Conference and Congress would be fielding one candidate each in both the divisions.
The candidates would be decided by the high commands of the two political parties.
The main opposition, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), could contest all four seats though the party was yet to come up with a formal announcement. Sources said the PDP was watching the situation and would hold consultations with representatives of the Panchayat members before fielding the candidates.
The BJP and the NPP could also contest all four seats.
Reliable sources said a number of Independent candidates including Sarpanchs and Panchs were likely to join the electoral fray to try their luck for the post of MLC for which the election was being held after nearly four decades.
It was in 1974 when election for four vacancies in the Legislative Council was held after the completion of Panchayat elections. As no Panchayat elections were held thereafter, the vacancies remained unfilled. Elections to few Panchayats were held in 2002 but they too were dissolved after sometime.
The Election Department has already published revised electoral rolls for the elections. Total number of voters stood at 33,540 in the State. Voters in Jammu division included 15,628 (13,678 Panches and 1950 Sarpanches) while electorates in Kashmir division were 17,912 (15,767 Panches and 2145 Sarpanches).
There are a total of 36 seats in the Upper House. However, present strength of the House was 30 as six seats, four reserved for Panchayats and two for ULBs were vacant.
It was in September 2011 that election process for Panchayats was completed after being set into motion in April last year.
Strength of the House prior to 2005 remained confined to 30 as four seats reserved for Panchayats and two for Municipalities (Urban Local Bodies) couldn’t be filled in the absence of elections to both Urban and Rural Local Bodies.
However, two seats of Urban Local bodies were filled in October 2005 as ULB elections were held in January 2005 after a gap of 26 years. PDP’s Nizam-ud-Din Bhat was elected from a seat reserved for Kashmir from the ULBs while former Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council and senior Congress leader, Arvinder Singh Micky was elected from Jammu region.
Both these seats have also fallen vacant as Mr Bhat quit membership of the Upper House in 2009 after his election to the Legislative Assembly while Micky’s term expired on September 15 last year.
Elections to the Municipal Corporations and Committees were not held despite being due in January-February 2010.
With the filling up of four seats in the Upper House from the quota of Panchayats next month, the number of seats in the Upper House would rise to 34 as two seats of ULBs only would remain vacant.
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