JK govt to announce Panchayat elections soon

Jammu, Jan 27: Jammu and Kashmir Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Jugal Kishore has said the Panchayat elections will soon be held in the state in an effort to usher in democracy at the grassroot level.

''An expert level committee has been formulated to suggest improvements in the J&K Panchayati Raj in order to bring it in line with the 73rd Amendment,'' the Minister told reporters yesterday.

Leader of Opposition and former Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather and expert on the subject Padma Bhushan Balraj Puri among others would be in the committee, he added.

On the Panchayat elections, he said, a report of the delimitation committee in Halqa Panchayats had already been put in the public domain for inviting objections and suggestions.

''Once this process completes, the re-organisation of Panch Constituencies will take place, paving the way for holding of the Panchayat elections,'' he said.

The last Panchayat elections were held in 2001. Of 2,700 Panchayat Halqas, the election was held for only 981 Panchayats.

Hiowever, after the elections, many Panchayat heads were killed and many threatened. Many of them also resigned from their posts.

In 2005, the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government had decided to prematurely dissolve the Panchayats and hold fresh elections with Amendments in the state Panchayati Raj Act.

The 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Indian Constitution, which empower rural and urban bodies, are not applicable to the state due to its Special Status under Article 370.

The State Panchayati Act, however, in many ways, is different in the state. There are no elected representatives in the 14 District Planning and Development Boards and the three tiers of the Panchayati Raj do not exist in the state as in the rest of the country.

UNI