STATE TIMES NEWS
RAJOURI: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Hamid Choudhary on Saturday hailed the incumbent Coalition Government for initiating steps to hold elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) in Jammu and Kashmir State that were deliberately delayed by the previous National Conference(NC)-Congress regime. The essence of democracy lies in empowering people at grass root level and make them partner in all developmental activities which this government understands and has made a beginning towards it as well.
In statement issued here, Choudhary Hamid said that five-year term of ULBs had expired in 2010 and the previous regime continuously sat over file for five years and didn’t let the powers decentralised. For multiple number of times, even the Chief Minister, announced dates for holding ULB polls but nothing ever matured. Thereafter, no attention was ever paid towards holding fresh elections to these grass root level democratic institutions in urban areas of the State.
He said that after the consent of Housing and Urban Development Department (H and UDD) the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has now asked Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to nominate officials for appointing Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) for revision and preparation of electoral rolls of all the wards of municipal bodies in the State.
This coalition regime will now ensure that two Municipal Corporations of Jammu as well as Srinagar besides 47 Municipal Council/Committees of Kashmir and 37 that of Jammu region are duly elected to represent their wards.