NEW DELHI: The elections to the nearly 13,000 vacant posts of panch and sarpanch in gram panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir is likely to be held next month and announcement of elections is expected to be made on January 25, a day after 36 Union Ministers are set to return from there after a week-long trip.
This will be the first elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into Union territories in August last year.
The entire election process is expected to be over by February end, following which another batch of Union ministers is likely to visit J&K, according to officials. A group of 36 Union Ministers will be visiting J&K from January 18 to January 24. Top government sources said that there will be a second batch of ministers who will be visiting J&K after polls.
While there will be 51 visits to Jammu and eight to Srinagar this time, sources said the next visit will include more visits to Kashmir. “There are few visits in Kashmir this time because of extreme cold weather. A second batch of ministers will visit J&K after Gram Panchayat polls and there will be more visits scheduled for Kashmir next time,” a source said. The 13,000 posts were lying vacant since November last year when the elections to the local bodies were held.
Out of Kashmir’s 20,093 panch and sarpanch seats, more than 12,500 seats have remained vacant since then. The announcement to the polls is likely to come amidst the visit of 36 Union ministers to Jammu and Kashmir beginning Saturday. The 2018 polls to the local bodies had witnessed poor participation with two major regional political parties — the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — boycotting it.