Except Uri, no quota to STs in 39 Kashmir ULBs
SCs, STs get handsome reservation in Jammu region
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 5: Moving a step ahead towards conduct of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K PK Pole today released draft reservation proposal for 77 Municipal bodies proposing 33 percent reservation to women besides Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Within SCs and STs, Wards have been reserved for SC and ST Women, a document released by Pole this evening revealed.
Municipal polls are due in October-November this year.
There are 77 Urban Local Bodies in the Union Territory — 40 in Kashmir and 37 in Jammu including two Corporations (Jammu and Srinagar) and 19 Councils (one each at district headquarters except Jammu and Srinagar and one at Sopore). There are 20 districts in J&K—10 each at Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
The draft reservation notification issued by the CEO invited objections and suggestion within next seven days in the office of CEO. After going through objections, the CEO office will finalize the reserved Wards.
As per the proposal, 25 wards have been reserved for women in Srinagar Municipal Corporation and 25 wards for women, 10 for Schedule Castes and two for Scheduled Tribes in Jammu Municipal Corporation.
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No Wards have been reserved for SCs or SC women in any of the 40 ULBs in Kashmir division as they have no population in the Valley. Even in 39 Municipalities of Kashmir, no Ward has been reserved for ST or ST women. Municipal Committee Uri is the only ULB in Kashmir where two Wards have been reserved for STs, one of them for ST woman.
Seventy seven ULBs in Jammu and Kashmir have 1119 Wards. Of them, 358 (almost 33 percent) have been reserved for women.
As per the officials, population data has been taken as criteria for reservation of Wards for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Women (open category), Women (Scheduled Caste category) and Women (Scheduled Tribe Category).
They said the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Corporation Act amended from time to time provided that number of the Wards to be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in every Municipal body have to be in proportion to the total population of SCs and STs in the area falling under the Municipal body.
For this purpose, they said, the population of SCs and STs in the Municipal area has been furnished by the Deputy Commissioners.
They added that identification of the Wards to be reserved by rotation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is on the basis of SC/ST population of the identified Wards in descending order, after excluding the Wards reserved in 2005 and 2018 elections and such Wards where their population percentage is less than that equivalent to one seat.
“Allocation of specific Wards to be reserved for Women (Open Category), Women (SC Category) and Women (ST category) has been done on a three-point roster system for each category separately. The roster points were taken as Open Seat, Seat Reserved for Women, Open Seat,” the officials said.
They said the three-point roster system has been applied for each Municipal body for the Wards in each category of Open, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, after listing them in increasing numeric order for each category.
However, they said, in case the roster leads to a Ward that has been reserved in 2005 or 2019 under the same category, the Ward immediately next in the serial has been reserved for that particular roster point.
In Kishtwar, four seats will be reserved for women, and in Doda, which has 17 seats in total, six will be reserved for women, and one for Scheduled Castes (SC).
The proposal extends its coverage to various other Municipalities, with Ramban allocating two seats for women, Udhampur with seven for women and three for SC.
Reasi has been allocated four seats for women, and Kathua seven.
In Poonch, six seats are designated for women, and one seat for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Rajouri will see the reservation of six seats for women, one for SC, and two for STs.
In the Municipal Council of Kupwara, four seats are reserved for women, while in Bandipora, six seats are proposed to be reserved. Both the Municipal Councils of Baramulla and Sopore will feature seven seats each reserved for women.
Additionally, the Municipal Council of Ganderbal will have six reserved seats for women, while the Municipal Council of Budgam will feature four such seats.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Council of Pulwama will reserve four seats for women, Shopian six, Kulgam four, and Anantnag eight seats dedicated to female representation.
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