Governor clears decks: Now Panchs to elect their Sarpanch

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 19: Governor NN Vohra today cleared decks for holding Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir by giving assent to the Government Ordinance empowering Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shantmanu to conduct the polls in the absence of State Election Commission (SEC) and nod to the bill for holding “indirect election” to Sarpanchs. This means that there will be direct election to Panchs only and they will elect Sarpanch of their Panchayat.
A Raj Bhavan spokesperson said the Governor has given his assent to the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
An official handout said the Governor has also given consent to an Ordinance proposed by the Government titled “J&K Panchayati Raj (Amendment) ordinance”, which empowered Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shantmanu to conduct the Panchayat elections.
The Panchayat elections are now envisaged to be held by March, 2017, it said.
The Raj Bhavan spokesperson said the Governor, in recent meetings with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had pressed for early conduct of the elections to both urban and rural self-governing bodies.
The handout said the State could lose significant amount under 14th Finance Commission in the event of non conduct of Panchayat elections.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Governor has given his assent to Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed by the State Legislature on July 2 amidst strong opposition by National Conference and Congress. The Governor had returned the bill to the Government on July 25 with certain queries. The Law and Rural Development Ministries had replied to the queries. The Governor has now given nod to the bill.
As per the bill, the people would elect only Panchs in the Panchayat elections and there will be no direct election of Sarpanchs, which was the case in 2011 election of Panchayats. The Panchs will elect the Sarpanch of their Panchayat. This way, there will be check on the Sarpanchs as they can be removed by the Panchs and others elected in their place.
Previously, there were fixed Sarpanch constituencies and they were directly elected.
The assent by the Governor to “indirect election” of Sarpanchs is major boost for the PDP-BJP coalition Government, which had brought the amendment, and a setback to NC-Congress, who were opposed to the amendment.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shantmanu said though he was yet to be approached by the Government for holding the Panchayat elections, they can conduct them from the end of March to start of May depending upon the Government proposal.
“Our electoral rolls will be updated in January. We can segregate the updated electoral rolls of Panchayats and then go for the elections,” Shantmanu said but added that a formal call on holding the elections has to be taken by the State Government and only then he can set the process into motion.
Significantly, Jammu and Kashmir is the only State in the country, which didn’t have its separate State Election Commission, which is empowered to hold Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies’ elections. The CEO, who happens to be representative of the Election Commission, generally holds elections of Lok Sabha and Assembly.
The Panchayati Raj Act of Jammu and Kashmir also envisaged for setting up of separate State Election Commission for holding Panchayat polls. However, in the absence of the State Election Commission, the Government has come up with an Ordinance for designating the CEO as the State Election Commission and empowering him to hold the Panchayat elections.
The Governor has approved the Ordinance and the CEO can now set the process into motion for holding Panchayat polls.
Earlier in February when Jammu and Kashmir was under Governor’s Rule, the Governor had issued an ordinance empowering the CEO for holding Municipal elections by giving him the powers of the State Election Commission. The Governor had decided to hold Municipal elections in April. However, PDP-BJP had again formed their Government on April 4 this year and since then there has been no word by the Government on holding Municipal elections.
The Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir totaling 4098 had ceased to exist on July 17 this year after completion of their five-year term due to delay in holding timely elections to them.
During previous Panchayat elections held in 2011 after a gap of nearly 37 years, there were 4098 Sarpanch and 29,402 Panch constituencies. The division wise constituencies included 2145 (Sarpanch) in Kashmir (including Ladakh) and 1953 in Jammu while there were 15767 Panch segments in Kashmir (including Ladakh) and 13,635 in Jammu.
However, with the Government now doing away with direct election of Sarpanchs by an Act of Legislation, all 4098 constituencies of Sarpanchs will be added to 29,402 Panch segments taking total number to 33,500 unless the Government decides to delimitate the constituencies and increase their numbers, which could consume lot of time and delay the election beyond March.
As per the new system, Panchs of a Panchayat would elect their Sarpanch by voting instead of direct election of the Sarpanch.
Elections to Panchayats were last held in April-May 2011 during Omar Abdullah led National Conference-Congress regime after a gap of 37 years as prior to them, the elections had been held in 1974.
The Urban Local Bodies elections were last held in January 2005. The Municipalities had completed their term in March 2010. With more than six and half years, there have been no elected Municipalities in place in the State.

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