Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 6: All 4098 Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir will complete their five-year term on July 17 and nearly 33,500 Sarpanchs and Panchs will cease to exist as the Government hasn’t yet taken any decision on holding of fresh Panchayat elections in the State, which were last held in April-May 2011 after a gap of 37 years.
“The existing Panchayats will complete their five-year term in the next about 10 days and 33,500 Panchayat members including 4098 Sarpanchs and 29,402 Panchs will cease to exist in the absence of fresh elections,” official sources said.
The Government has so far not conveyed any deadline to the State Election Department to hold Panchayat elections. In view of this, the Election Department was yet to initiate fresh process to hold Panchayat elections, which was started during the Governor’s Rule in March with identification and rotation of reserved Wards.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shantmanu told the Excelsior that they had initiated the process of rotation of reserved wards and related exercises in March, a lot of work on which was done. However, he said, now his Department was awaiting fresh nod from the Government on deadline for holding the elections after which it would proceed further.
“We have to go by the Government direction on holding the elections,” the CEO said.
According to sources, the Government has so far not taken up the decision on holding Panchayat elections in the State notwithstanding the fact that existing Panchayats were set to complete their term in the next about 10 days. From July 17 onwards, the existing Panchayats would have no powers, they said.
For Panchayats to be in place in time, the Government had to conduct elections in May-June. Pointing out that a strategy had been devised during the Governor’s Rule after the death of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7 to hold Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) elections in first half of May followed by Panchayat polls in June, sources said the strategy went haywire as the new Government took over the reign of affairs on April 4 and went busy with budget session of the Legislature, which concluded only a week back.
However, there were indications from the Government that it could go for Panchayat elections in the month of October. A strategy in this regard is being devised. A final decision would be taken by the Cabinet on the basis of proposal prepared by the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ministry, headed by Abdul Haq Khan.
The Government of India has linked many grants to rural areas with elected Panchayats and it was mandatory for the Government to hold the elections to secure those grants, sources said, adding only if the new Panchayats were in place by November that the State Government can claim the grants that run into several crores and could do lot of development in the rural areas.
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 would 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.
“If the present system prevails, election will be held for 33,500 Panch constituencies,” sources said.
As per the new system, Panchs of a Panchayat would elect their Sarpanch by voting instead of direct election of the Sarpanch.
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