Kashmir Panchayat Elections For 12,565 Vacant Seats Get Modi Govt Approval theprint.in

The Narendra Modi government has given a go-ahead to the Jammu and Kashmir civil administration to hold panchayat elections in over 60 per cent seats in the Valley that have remained vacant since polls were last held in the erstwhile state in 2018, ThePrint has learnt.

On Tuesday, J&K Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar held a meeting via video conference to discuss the window for conducting the elections, government sources told ThePrint.The meeting was attended by divisional commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu, the secretary to J&K government, inspector generals of Kashmir and Jammu, and other senior officials of the civil administration.

Kumar confirmed the development to ThePrint. However, he said plans to hold the polls were in preliminary stages at of now. “We can’t say that the process to hold the polls has been initiated. It will only be initiated when the CEO issues a notification. But yes, the Centre has given an indication to hold the polls, though the plan to do so is in preliminary stages.”

He added, “We first need to complete the electoral roll by this year end and then only we can think about holding the polls taking into factors like weather into account.”