Jammu Kashmir Panchayat Polls Deferred On Home Department Advice, Order Says Fresh Dates Possibly In 2-3 Weeks hindustantimes.com

The by-polls to panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir scheduled to be held next month has been postponed apprehending trouble and inputs from security agencies, the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) Shailendra Kumar said late on Tuesday. The decision to postpone the by-elections came after the notification was announced for two of the eight phases, which were to begin from March 5. “Home department government of Jammu and Kashmir vide its letter dated 18-2-2020 had advised the election authority to consider deferring of the conduct of polls based on credible inputs from the law enforcement agencies,” the notification said. “After addressing all the concerns suitably, at the earliest possible in two to three weeks, a fresh schedule will be notified,” it added. The polling was to be held from March 5 to March 20 from 9 am to 1 pm. According to the earlier notifications, the last date for making nominations was February 22, the date for scrutiny of nominations was February 24 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature was February 26. Last week, the Jammu and Kashmir government had issued the notification to fill the vacant 11,639 panchayat seats in Jammu and Kashmir. This would have been the first elections to be held under the administration of the Union territory after the erstwhile state of J-K was bifurcated into J-K and Ladakh. The National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had boycotted these polls and there were many places where no candidate had filed nomination papers. This time as well, the NC, PDP and the Congress had demanded the release of the political leaders before any elections would be held. The panchayat elections were held in J-K in 2018, however, despite the polls, more than 60% seats in Kashmir remained vacant as at many places candidates didn’t file nomination papers or resigned after getting elected.