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| 72 lakh voters ready, but no poll date: J&K’s Panchayat election mystery | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 22: While Ladakh has announced a schedule for its much-awaited Panchayat elections, the wait for rural body polls in Jammu and Kashmir continues, with no date in sight.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently remarked, in a lighter vein, that Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) elections will be held “at an appropriate time”. He drew a comparison with the Union Government’s promise of restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate time.
The delay has left the Union Territory without any elected local governance institution. The five-year tenure of Panchayats and Block Development Councils (BDCs) ended on January 9, 2024. Municipal bodies had completed their terms earlier, in October-November 2023, and the District Development Councils (DDCs) wound up on February 24, 2026. All three tiers of the Panchayati Raj system and the urban local bodies are now without elected representatives.
The State Election Commission (SEC) has completed a comprehensive revision of Panchayat electoral rolls across the Union Territory. After a nearly two-month exercise, the final rolls were published in May.
According to officials, the number of eligible voters has risen to nearly 72 lakh, from about 69.80 lakh in the previous rolls. Around 3.5 lakh new voters were added and nearly 1.25 lakh names were deleted, an overall increase of about 3.2 percent. For ULB polls, officials said the rolls will be prepared from the Assembly electoral rolls in accordance with existing legal provisions.
A major factor holding up the elections is the pending implementation of reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies. The SEC is still awaiting the Jammu and Kashmir Government’s response to the report of the OBC Commission headed by Justice (Retd) Janak Raj Kotwal.
Sources said the commission submitted its report in February 2025, and its recommendations are essential to determine the extent of OBC reservation in Panchayats and municipal bodies before the polls can be notified. The Lieutenant Governor’s administration constituted the commission to recommend the percentage of reservation for OBC communities in grassroots democratic institutions. The provision itself was introduced through legislation enacted by Parliament before the Omar Abdullah-led government took office in the Union Territory.
At present, reservation in local bodies is available only to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women. |
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