Jammu and Kashmir: Will DDC also face the same fate as Panchayats? Election process in limbo, new CEC not appointed:

News Topical, Digital Desk : After panchayats , block development councils ( BDCs ) and municipalities , the only functioning panchayati raj institution in Jammu and Kashmir , the district development councils ( DDCs ) , will complete their term in mid - January next year . But with the State Election Commission ( SEC ) inactive for four months , the necessary process for delimitation and rotation of reserved seats is nowhere in sight , indicating that the DDCs will meet the same fate as the panchayats .

The State Election Commission, which is responsible for conducting elections to all three levels of Panchayati Raj institutions besides municipalities, has been without a commissioner for more than four and a half months since April 26. Sources said that a new SEC has not been appointed yet , although some employees are working in the commission, but the election process cannot be started without the SEC .

The posts of chairpersons were reserved

There are 10 DDCs each in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir divisions , which were constituted for the first time in history in January 2021, after elections were held for them in November-December 2020. Each DDC had 14 members, including 33 per cent for women and quota for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. The posts of chairpersons were also reserved.

Sources said that even if fresh delimitation of constituencies is not done, the reserved seats will have to be rotated , for which a process has to be followed by the Rural Development Department ( RDD ) before holding the election .

' It is not appropriate to have 14 DDC seats in each district '

Various political leaders have demanded that it is not fair to have equal number of 14 DDC seats in each district as the population and voters of districts like Jammu and Srinagar are much more than districts like Samba , Shopian , Kulgam , Bandipora and Ramban etc. They believed that DDC seats should be decided on the basis of population, area and voters .

DDC was formally constituted in January-February next year

In 2020, the notification for DDC elections was issued on November 4 and voting was held in eight phases from November 28 to December 19. The counting of votes took place on December 22. The DDC was formally constituted in January-February next year. Due to snowfall in the upper areas, elections in Jammu and Kashmir cannot be held from late December to February.

Sources said that if the date of notification of the last election i.e. November 4 is taken into account, now less than two months are left for the remaining preparations like publication of voter list, rotation of reserved seats and delimitation, if it has to be done, but no such work seems to be happening.

The term of panchayats is ending on January 9, 2024. The term of block development councils is also ending on the same day as their term was ending along with the term of panchayats . Nagar Palika completed its five - year term in November - December 2023. Now , out of the three tiers of Panchayati Raj , DDC is the only institution left and it is going to end in the next few months , sources said .

Municipal elections were held in October -November 2018 and Panchayat elections were held in November-December of the same year. While Panchayat elections were held after almost four decades, Municipal elections were held after 13 years.

Of the 10 DDCs in the Jammu region, six are ruled by the BJP, including Jammu, Samba , Kathua , Udhampur , Reasi and Doda , while the ruling National Conference is in power in three DDCs- Kishtwar , Ramban and Rajouri . An independent member is the chairman of DDC Poonch .