Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): Amid the shrill over the demand to hold the long awaited assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir, Municipal elections in the union territory too are getting delayed as reservation for Other Backwards Classes (OBCs) in municipal bodies is still under process following the change in municipal and reservation laws which were amended by the previous BJP government in the parliament to give reservation to the OBCs in the local bodies.
The last municipal elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 before abrogation of Article 370 when JK was a state. The five-year term of the grassroots representatives ended in November 2023 in the union territory, but the elections were not held on time due to delimitation of municipal wards and reservation to OBCs. The BJP government at the Centre passed the Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill-2024 in the parliament in February this year. Jammu and Kashmir has two municipal corporations-Srinagar and Jammu- and 76 municipalities.
Official sources told ETV Bharat that the reservation exercise will take time as 46 new castes have been included in the reservation list following amendment to the reservation and municipal laws. The inclusion of OBCs in the municipal bodies will be determined by the J&K Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (JKSEBCC).
Headed by Justice (Retired) GD Sharma, the Commission comprises former bureaucrat Rup Lal Bharti and former IPS officer Munir Khan as its members. The panel was set up in March 2020. Its three year term expired in March, however the LG administration extended its term by six more months till the completion of OBC reservation.
Sources said that the commission is yet to begin the exercise of making a report for inclusion of OBCs in municipal wards. "The commission is yet to receive any notice or communication from the government about starting the exercise for OBC reservation in municipalities and two corporations," Munir Khan told ETV Bharat.
While the reservation is awaited, the delimitation exercise, too, has not been completed yet. The delimitation involves uniform distribution of voters in the wards which will see expansion of wards and their boundaries.
State Election Commissioner B R Sharma has now directed the deputy commissioners who are also district electoral officers in 20 districts of the union territory to expedite the exercise so that the elections for the civic bodies are held by the end of this year.
Sharma held a meeting with Deputy Electoral Officers (DEOs), on Tuesday and directed them to expedite the delimitation of wards, publication of draft proposals.
"We hope to finish the delimitation within 45 days as draft proposals have been finalised for municipal bodies in 12 districts and only eight are remaining. And in these eight districts we are in the advanced stage. Some districts are already in the process of issuing public notification for putting the draft proposals in the public domain for feedback and claims etc," Sharma told ETV Bharat.
He said after delimitation, SEC will carry out the exercise of revision of electoral rolls and reserving wards for OBCs voters, which will be done after the OBC commission completes the report of reservation.
"We are trying our best to complete the delimitation followed by the electoral roll revision exercise so that the elections are conducted for formation of elected local bodies," Sharma said.
Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir are up in arms against the BJP government for delaying the elections to assembly and now to the civic and panchayat bodies.
"The delay in elections is hitting the development and importantly the peoples representation in the elected bodies. It is actually denying democracy to the people of Jammu and Kashmir," PDP spokesman Harbaksh Singh told ETV Bharat.
National Conference spokesman Imran Nabi said that the Jammu and Kashmir administration must expedite the delimitation and reservation exercise as soon as possible and hold local bodies elections with the assembly elections which as per Supreme Court directions must be held before September.
On his recent visit to Kashmir to observe International Yoga Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir while also statehood will be restored, but the PM did not give any timeline.
