Terms of municipalities will end on 15 November and for panchayats on 9 January 2024 in Jammu and Kashmir.
SRINAGAR
Even after many political voices asking for conduct of Assembly elections in J&K, the UT administration here is preparing for elections to municipalities and panchayats on schedule, giving no indication that Assembly election would be held soon.
The terms of municipalities are going to end on 15 November 2023 and for the panchayats on 09 January 2024 in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently, the Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir issued notification for the revision of electoral rolls for all J&K municipalities and final electoral rolls would be published in the last week of this month. The Chief Electoral Officer has said that they are prepared to hold panchayat elections also on time in Jammu and Kashmir.
All the regional parties, especially National Conference and PDP, have been pressing for early Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir and have been claiming that people are choked by lack of voice for their governance.
The Centre had given some indications in the past that Assembly elections will also be held, but as of now, it seems far-fetched that Assembly elections would be conducted in the near future.
The National Conference has been preparing the ground for the elections and is very keen to participate in the municipal and panchayat elections as the party feels that they would be conducted on time. Recently, former chief minister and vice president of National Conference Omar Abdullah said that there is complete disconnect between the common people and the present bureaucracy in Jammu and Kashmir. He claimed that non-local officers have been posted at all the key places and they have problems with communication as they do not know the local language of the people. He said that there are a lot of pent-up feelings among the common people in Jammu and Kashmir and whenever there would be Assembly elections, there would be record breaking participation of the people to elect their representatives.
Most local political parties, including a J&K Apni party and the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Democratic Azad Party, have been pressing for early elections, but most of them are now going to the areas to have their candidates elected for coming municipal and panchayat elections.
The J&K administration is preparing to hold elections on time for all the 4,290 panchayats and they will also hold municipal elections for two municipal corporations of Jammu and Srinagar, 57 municipal committees and 19 municipal councils.
It is in place to mention that municipal elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir in September 2018 and the term of these elections is going to end on 15 November this year. The elections for District Development Councils (DDCs) in Jammu and Kashmir are going to be held in 2026 as these elections were held in all the 20 districts of J&K in December 2022.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the electoral process for all the three tiers of the panchayat raj system has been put in place and the government is very keen to hold these local elections on time so that people have their own representatives at the ground level.