Pending exercise in just 5 Municipalities
*Certain BJP leaders exerting pressure on authorities
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 21: The postponement of the rationalization of voters and the delimitation of Wards in the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and the expansion of Wards in four Municipalities in Kashmir, including the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), has led to a delay in the essential exercise for revising electorates in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), which is a prerequisite before conducting elections for these bodies.
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Officials informed the Excelsior that the boundaries of 234 Wards across 76 ULBs have been rationalized and approved by the State Election Commission (SEC). However, ongoing issues with JMC, SMC, and three Municipal bodies in the Kashmir region continue to delay the voter revision process for the Municipalities.
“The rationalization and delimitation of Wards in JMC has not been implemented as per Section 6 of the Municipal Corporation Act 2000. It has been reported that some BJP leaders, whose Wards contain a significantly lower number of votes compared to others, are pressuring the authorities to refrain from rationalizing the Wards, as this would potentially increase the voter count in their segments,” stated the officials.
Certain Wards in JMC have a disproportionately high number of voters, while others are significantly underrepresented. Rationalization is necessary to balance the voter distribution across all 75 Wards of the Corporation. The Election Authority had previously highlighted notable discrepancies in the voter counts within some of the Wards in JMC.
Regarding SMC, there is a requirement to increase one Ward within the Corporation, and the Municipal Committees of Yaripora, Achabal, and Devsar also need to see an increase in the number of Wards.
According to officials, this increase necessitates Government approval. Discussions regarding the matter have been initiated with the Government, but progress remains stalled, they explained.
“In the other Municipal Councils and Committees, the rationalization and delimitation exercise, wherever necessary, has been finalized,” they added.
Recently, the State Election Commission published the final electoral rolls for the Panchayats, bringing the total number of voters to just over 7 million. However, the SEC cannot proceed with the voter revision exercise for the Municipalities until the rationalization of voters and delimitation is finalized for all Urban Local Bodies.
Elections for the Municipalities cannot be conducted without the revision of electorates.
The timeline for holding the Panchayat and Municipal elections hinges on the submission of a report by a Commission established by the Government to ascertain the percentage of reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in both Panchayat and Municipal elections.
The submission of the OBC Commission’s report is a prerequisite before local body elections can commence. Currently, women hold a 33 percent reservation in Urban and Rural Local Bodies, while reservations for SCs and STs are allocated based on population figures.
“Once the Commission provides its report, the respective Departments will proceed with the necessary measures to reserve Wards for women, SCs, STs, and OBCs in both Panchayats and Municipalities,” the officials confirmed.
Due to the inaugural reservations for OBCs in these bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, the elections for Panchayats and Municipalities, originally scheduled for October-November 2023, have been postponed.
