The Housing and Urban Development Department in Jammu and Kashmir will formally propose that the CEO conduct a review of electoral records in order to hold elections for urban local governments later this year.
Prior to announcing the election date, the government of J&K will conduct ward delimitation in the state’s metropolitan centres.
To begin, Anil Koul, Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department, was named Wednesday as the nodal official responsible for organising the upcoming municipal elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Housing and Urban Development Department has issued an order mandating that the nodal officer coordinate with the chief electoral officer, all deputy commissioners, commissioners of municipal corporations, and the Director, Urban Local Bodies, Jammu and Kashmir in order to submit a request to the chief electoral officer J-K to conduct a revision of electoral rolls in the respective municipalities.
The inclusion or exclusion of wards is also part of his remit, as is working with the relevant Municipal Corporations and Municipalities to do so.
For the 2023 municipal elections to go off without a hitch, the government has mandated that the deputy directors and secretaries of the various urban local bodies and municipal corporations serve as liaison officers and give all necessary support and coordination to the nodal officer.
There are 57 Municipal Committees in J&K, in addition to 19 Municipal Councils.
ULB elections are expected to take place in September of 2023, according to reliable sources.
Since the current Municipal Corporations and other Municipalities’ terms would expire in October/November 2023, “the election schedule could be announced in the month of August 2023,” according to sources.
Jammu and Kashmir’s latest municipal elections took place in October 2018, while the state was still governed by a governor. National Conference and People’s Democratic Party voters did not go to the polls.
