The urban local body and panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir are likely to be delayed as the administration is mulling changes to municipal acts and rules as well as a delimitation exercise to address skewed distribution of electors, officials said on Sunday.
The Union Territory’s administration is considering the delimitation exercise for municipal wards and panchayat segments in the backdrop of a delimitation exercise that was carried out by the Election Commission for assembly and parliamentary seats, said the officials, requesting anonymity.
The housing and urban development department is actively pursuing a communication from the office of the chief electoral officer, which, among other things, suggested transfer of mandate to conduct the municipal electoral processes to the State Election Commission (SEC) in accordance with constitutional provisions, they said.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the chief electoral officer (CEO) is the authority to hold urban local body (ULB) elections in addition to Lok Sabha and assembly polls, while the SEC -- headed by a state election commissioner -- is mandated to conduct elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI).
On September 23, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool Wani in a letter to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had demanded holding of ULB elections under the SEC as mandated by the 74th amendment of the Constitution.