By Tariq Bhat Updated: October 30, 2024 13:22 IST
After wrapping up the assembly polls, Jammu and Kashmir is preparing for the 2024 panchayat elections, focusing on updating the panchayat electoral roll.
The state election commission has announced a revised schedule to ensure the roll update process is thorough and ready ahead of the elections.
The draft Panchayat Electoral roll (Form PER-1) will be published on November 11, 2024 (Monday), following which the period for claims and objections by the voters will start.
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Voters can request additions, deletions, corrections, or transpositions from November 11 to December 9, 2024.
Special camps will be held at polling locations on the weekends of November 16-17, November 23-24, and November 30-December 1, 2024.
At these camps, Panchayat Election Booth Officials (PEBOs) and assembly Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will help voters with forms, and guide them on the draft rolls.
The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) will address all claims and objections by December 23, 2024, and the final panchayat electoral roll will be published on January 6, 2025.
The state election commission says this annual update follows the rules set under Section 38 of the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, with January 1, 2025, as the qualifying date.
In the last elections, 27,281 panchayat members and sarpanchs were elected in 2018, while 12,776 seats remained vacant until bypolls were held in 2020.
Almost 30,000 panchs and sarpanchs finished their five-year terms on January 9, 2024. The Rs 25 lakh panchayat fund was no longer disbursed.
The 2024 panchayat elections will take place after a new delimitation of ‘Halqas’ (revenue villages), a step to restore local governance since the municipal corporations in Jammu and Srinagar completed their terms last November.