Revision of rolls to start with April 1, 2026 as cut-off date
*Municipal voter lists to be taken from SIR
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 7: The State Election Commission (SEC) will initiate preparations for Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday with undertaking an exercise for revision of electoral rolls fixing cut off date as April 1, 2026. However, the electoral rolls for Municipalities will not be updated and the latest lists will be taken from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise to be conducted by the Election Commission from April this year.
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State Election Commissioner Shantmanu has re-fixed the high-level meeting for starting preparations for the Panchayat polls, which was earlier scheduled for March 3, to March 9. The meeting on March 3 was postponed as the Deputy Commissioners from the Kashmir division, who had to attend the meeting through video conferencing, were busy with law and order situation in the Valley because of protests against the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
“The meeting has been scheduled for March 9 and revision of electoral rolls for the Panchayats will be discussed in detail. Last revision of the Panchayat rolls had taken place on January 1, 2025 and nearly a year and two months have passed since then,’’ Shantmanu told the Excelsior and said the meeting will discuss the process for revision of the Panchayat rolls.
The electoral rolls are expected to be prepared based on existing delimitation.
The high-level meeting to be attended by senior officers of the SEC, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Departments and the Deputy Commissioners, some of them through video conferencing, will also discuss various issues connected to the preparations for Panchayat polls.
Besides, the SEC will also review availability of ballot boxes, printing material etc. It may be mentioned here that the Panchayat polls are held on ballot papers while the Municipal elections are conducted through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
While ordering revision of electoral rolls, the SEC is expected to fix April 1, 2026 as the cut-off date i.e. the youth turning 18 on April 1 will be eligible to become the voters.
However, as far as the electoral rolls for the Urban Local Bodies are concerned, they will be taken from the SIR which is scheduled to be conducted in Jammu and Kashmir from the month of April this year.
“Various other issues pertaining to launching the preparations for Panchayat elections will also come up at the meeting,’’ the sources said, adding the Panchayat Secretaries will act as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for revision exercise of electoral rolls while the Deputy Commissioners and other senior officers will play their role as usual.
The SEC is mandated to hold elections to Panchayats, Municipalities, Block Development Councils (BDCs) and District Development Council (DDCs). However, post of the State Election Commissioner remained vacant for about 10 months till Shantmanu was appointed as the SEC few days back.
Term of the Municipalities in J&K ended on October-November 2023 while Panchayats and Block Development Councils completed their tenure on January 9, 2024. The DDCs completed their five-year term on February 24 this year.
After the Central Government granted reservation to OBCs, a Commission headed by Justice (Retd) Janak Raj Kotwal was set up to determine percentage of reservation for the OBCs in Panchayats, Municipalities, BDCs and DDCs. The Commission submitted its report on February 27, 2025 but no decision has so far been taken by the Government on its recommendations.
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