Pre-election exercises yet to be undertaken
*SEC not in office for last over 4 months
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 11: After Panchayats, Block Development Councils (BDCs) and Municipalities; the District Development Councils (DDCs), the only surviving institution among three tiers of Panchayati Raj in Jammu and Kashmir, will complete their term in the middle of January next year i.e. a little about four months from now but the State Election Commission (SEC) which has to conduct the polls is lying defunct for four and half months while the exercise for delimitation and rotation of reserved seats is nowhere in sight.
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There are 20 DDCs in the UT-10 each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions-which were constituted for first time in the history in January 2021 after elections to them were held in November- December 2020. Each DDC had 14 members with 33 percent reservation for women and quota for SCs and STs as well. Posts of the Chairpersons were also reserved.
The State Election Commission, responsible for conducting elections to all three tiers of PRIs besides the Municipalities, is without the Commissioner since April 26 i.e. more than four and half months. New SEC hasn’t been appointed as yet though there has been some staff working in the Commission but process of elections can’t be undertaken without the SEC, sources told the Excelsior.
Further, even if fresh delimitation of constituencies isn’t done, the reserved seats had to be rotated for which an exercise has to be undertaken by the Rural Development Department (RDD) before holding the elections, the sources said.
Various political leaders have demanded that equal number of 14 DDC seats in every district isn’t justified as districts like Jammu and Srinagar have far more population and voters than Samba, Shopian, Kulgam, Bandipora and Ramban etc. They were of the view that the DDC seats should be based on population, area and voters.
“For this purpose, fresh delimitations has to be undertaken,” the sources pointed out.
In 2020, notification for the DDC elections was issued on November 4 and eight-phase polling was held from November 28 to December 19. Counting took place on December 22. The DDCs were formally constituted in January-February next.
Elections in Jammu and Kashmir can’t be held from December end to February due to snowfall in upper reaches.
Sources said if the previous election’s notification date is taken into account i.e. November 4, now less than two months have been left for making rest of the preparations like publication of electoral rolls, rotation of reservation seats and delimitation, if it has to be conducted, but such an exercise is not visible.
Senior concerned Government officers were not available for comments.
Terms of the Panchayats ended on January 9, 2024. Term of the Block Development Councils also ended the same day as it was co-terminus with the Panchayats. The Municipalities completed their five-year term in November-December 2023. Now, the DDCs are the only institution among three tiers of the Panchayati Raj which is surviving and is due to expire in next few months, the sources said.
Elections to the Municipalities were held in October-November 2018 followed by the Panchayats in November-December the same year. While the Panchayat polls were held after nearly four decades, the Municipal elections took place after 13 years.
Among 10 DDCs in the Jammu region, six are being ruled by the BJP including Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi and Doda while ruling NC is in power in three DDCs-Kishtwar, Ramban and Rajouri. An Independent member is the chairperson of the DDC Poonch.
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