With no new elections scheduled for the foreseeable future, the tenure of over 28,000 panchayat members came to an end today, leaving the last remaining elected officials in Jammu and Kashmir.
The only democratic institutions in operation in the area were Panchayat-elected local bodies during the more than five years that the former state was without an elected government.
It is probable that the Union Territory’s government would designate administrators who will carry out the duties of local elected bodies until new elections are scheduled.
Today, the State Election Commission of Jammu and Kashmir declared that an update to the electoral rolls will be released by February 26. According to sources who spoke to news agency, it will be followed by the delineation of Panchayats and the reserving of seats for OBCs.
“The State Election Commission will run a special campaign to undertake an annual summary revision of panchayat electoral rolls,” Jammu and Kashmir State Election Commissioner, BR Sharma, said.
In the event that panchayats and block development councils are not present, the District Development Councils (DDCs), the third tier of the Panchayati Raj System, will still be operational.
The most recent panchayat and urban local body elections took place in November and December of 2018.
Following the National Conference and PDP’s boycott of the election, the majority of panchayat members were elected without opposition. Two years later, in 2020, following the by-elections, around 12,000 seats were still unfilled.
December of last month marked the end of existence for all urban local authorities following the five-year tenure.
Since June 2018, Jammu & Kashmir has been governed directly by the Central government. Last month, the Supreme Court set the deadline for holding assembly elections before September this year
