Authorities said elections on the vacant Panchayat seats of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in eight phases beginning March 5.
Reports said the panchayat elections will be held in March even as top politicians of Jammu and Kashmir, including three former chief ministers, are in detention for over six months.
Authorities have recently slapped the draconian Public Safety Act against them to continue their detention and their release seems unlikely to take place anytime soon.
According to officials, over 60 percent of the total Panchayat seats in Kashmir remained vacant even after the last panchayat elections due to lack of participation in the electoral process. These vacant seats will be filled now.
J&K Chief Electoral officer Shailendra Kumar made the announcement on Thursday and declared the dates for panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The panchayat elections will be held in 8 phases in March.
The 8 phases of polling will be observed on March 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20.
The first notification for the process will be issued on February 15.
The announcement was made by Kumar during a press conference in Jammu region on Thursday afternoon.
Addressing media persons, the CEO said that elections for the vacant 12,565 Panchayat seats will be held in eight phases.
“The first phase of polling will take place on March 5, while the second phase is scheduled for March 7. The third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eight phases of voting will take place on March 9, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 respectively,” he said.
“Panchayat elections for vacant posts of every block will be held using ballot boxes. It will be conducted in eight phases,” Kumar said, adding that “from now onwards, the Model Code of Conduct is enforced and it will be implementable in all the places where elections are being held.”
He said in Jammu division, the elections will be conducted in four phases while in Kashmir, it will be held in eight phases. Kumar said that no request has been received over the conducting of polls in Ladakh.
"Union Territory of Ladakh has not yet sent us a request for the conduct of elections so we have not included Ladakh,” he stated.
This will be the first major political exercise in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status (Article 370) and bifurcated the erstwhile State into two Union Territories—J&K and Ladakh on August 5 last year by the central government.
Meanwhile, an official spokesperson said as per the schedule, the elections would be held for 25 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 768 vacant Panch Constituencies of 21 blocks of Kupwara district, 148 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 2163 vacant Panch Constituencies of 26 blocks of Baramulla district, 45 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 603 vacant Panch Constituencies of 9 blocks of Bandipora district, 41 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 685 vacant Panch Constituencies of 7 blocks of Ganderbal district, 9 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 155 vacant Panch Constituencies of 4 blocks of Srinagar district, 157 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 1941 vacant Panch Constituencies of 17 blocks of Budgam district, 151 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 1437 vacant Panch Constituencies of 11 blocks of Pulwama district, 73 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 742 vacant Panch Constituencies of 9 blocks of Shopian district, 103 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 968 vacant Panch Constituencies of 8 blocks of Ganderbal district, vacant Panchayat Halqas and 685 vacant Panch Constituencies of 7 blocks of Kulgam district and 135 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 1995 vacant Panch Constituencies of 16 blocks of Anantnag district. Thus, in Kashmir division elections to a total of 887 vacant Panchayat halqas and 11457 vacant Panch Constituencies of 128 blocks would be conducted.
In Jammu division, the elections would be held for 10 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 9 vacant Panch Constituencies of 11 blocks of Kishtwar district, 16 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 17 vacant Panch Constituencies of 17 blocks of Doda district, 10 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 19 vacant Panch Constituencies of 11 blocks of Ramban district, 16 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 15 vacant Panch Constituencies of 17 blocks of Udhampur district, 9 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 14 vacant Panch Constituencies of 12 blocks of Reasi district, 19 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 19 vacant Panch Constituencies of 19 blocks of Kathua district, 5 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 20 vacant Panch Constituencies of 9 blocks of Samba district, 15 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 25 vacant Panch Constituencies of 20 blocks of Jammu district, 16 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 26 vacant Panch Constituencies of 19 blocks of Rajouri district and 8 vacant Panchayat Halqas and 18 vacant Panch Constituencies of 11 blocks of Poonch district. Thus, in Jammu division elections to a total of 1011 vacant Panchayat halqas and 11639 vacant Panch Constituencies of 274 blocks would be conducted.
With the announcement of this schedule for conduct of Panchayat By-Elections, provisions of Model Code of Conduct have come into force with immediate effect. In this regard, control rooms have been established in all the districts for prompt action of any complaint.
According to schedule for holding Panchayat By-Elections 2020 in Panchayat Halqas and Panch Wards of J&K prepared by the Election Authority of J&K, for Phase-I the date of issuance of Gazette Notification would be 15-02-2020, last date for making nomination would be 22-02-20, date of scrutiny would be 24-02-2020, last date for withdrawal of candidature would be 26-02-2020 while 05-03-2020 would be the date of Poll wherever necessary.
For Phase-II the date of issuance of Gazette Notification would be 17-02-2020, last date for making nomination would be 24-02-2020, date of scrutiny would be 25-02-2020, last date for withdrawal of candidature would be 27-02-2020 while 07-03-2020 would be the date of Poll wherever necessary.
For Phase III, the date of issuance of Gazette Notification would be 19-02-2020, last date for making nomination would be 26-02-2020, date of scrutiny would be 27-02-2020, last date for withdrawal of candidature would be 29-02-2020 while 09-03-2020 would be the date of Poll wherever necessary.
For Phase IV, the date of issuance of Gazette Notification would be 22-02-2020, last date for making nomination would be 29-02-2020, date of scrutiny would be 02-03-2020, last date for withdrawal of candidature would be 04-03-2020 while 12-03-2020 would be the date of Poll wherever necessary.
For Phase V, the date of issuance of Gazette Notification would be 24-02-2020, last date for making nomination would be 02-03-2020, date of scrutiny would be 03-03-2020, last date for withdrawal of candidature would be 05-03-2020 while 14-03-2020 would be the date of Poll wherever necessary.
For Phase VI, the date of issuance of Gazette Notification would be 26-02-2020, last date for making nomination would be 04-03-2020, date of scrutiny would be 05-03-2020, last date for withdrawal of candidature would be 07-03-2020 while 16-03-2020 would be the date of Poll wherever necessary.
For Phase VII, the date of issuance of Gazette Notification would be 28-02-2020, last date for making nomination would be 06-03-2020, date of scrutiny would be 07-03-2020, last date for withdrawal of candidature would be 09-03-2020 while 18-03-2020 would be the date of Poll wherever necessary.
For Phase VIII, the date of issuance of Gazette Notification would be 29-02-2020, last date for making nomination would be 07-03-2020, date of scrutiny would be 09-03-2020, last date for withdrawal of candidature would be 11-03-2020 while 20-03-2020 would be the date of Poll wherever necessary.
The Polling Hours shall be from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm while the counting of votes shall be taken up on the day of poll unless notified otherwise, followed by announcement of the results.