Once again the May-June deadline for conducting the municipal and Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir has vanished. Governor N.N Vohra had ordered completion of formalities for holding Municipal elections on March 1 and holding elections in first week of May during the recent Governor rule. Likewise, Panchayat elections were due in the State during the month of June as existing Panchayats were completing their five year term on July 16. The elections to the Panchayats have remained under one or the other controversy. The first Panchayat elections were held during Sheikh Abdullah’s period as Chief Minister in 1978. Two years later, the elected panchs and sarpanchs exercised their franchise – albeit by raising their hands – to elect four of their representatives. From 1978 to 2011, panchayat elections were held only once – by the Farooq Abdullah’s government in 2001-02. With poor voter turnout and less than 30 per cent of members getting elected in the Valley – in contrast to Jammu and Ladakh – the Mufti Sayeed government scrapped it summarily by way of legislation next year. Now with a new government under Mehbooba Mufti at place once again the schedule may differ because of some reasons as the final call would be taken by the Cabinet. The municipal elections were last held in Jammu and Kashmir in January-February 2005 after a gap of 26 years. The municipalities had ceased to exist in March 2010 and since then process for holding elections to them was initiated several times but every time it had to be deferred for varied reasons. There are a total of 78 Municipalities in Jammu and Kashmir including two Corporations (Jammu and Srinagar), six Councils (Kathua, Udhampur and Poonch in Jammu region and Anantnag, Sopore and Baramulla in Kashmir region) and 70 municipal committees. However, under the present set up the timely Panchayat elections looks unlikely as the existing Panchayats will be completing their tenure on July 16.
