SRINAGAR: As the J&K Election Commission concluded the annual revision of panchayat electoral rolls with publication of final electoral rolls, over seven million voters are eligible to exercise their right to franchise in the panchayat polls in the Union Territory.The J&K Election Commission yesterday concluded annual revision of panchayat electoral rolls with publication of final electoral rolls with January 1, 2025 as a qualifying date. The annual revision of Panchayat electoral rolls was started on November 11, 2024. A total of 341072 new voters have been added and 110768 names have been deleted because of death, shifting or other reasons, an official spokesman said. Besides that, corrections were carried out in details of 10726 voters and 31180 voters were transposed to other Panchayat Halqas/Wards. The final panchayat electoral roll has a total of 7000670 voters. It includes 3566475 males, 3434048 females and 147 third gender voters.According to an official spokesman, the process of revision of Panchayat Electoral Rolls is a continuous updation exercise. “All eligible voters who are 18 years of age as on 01-01- 2025 and their names are not figuring in the Final Electoral Rolls can get themselves enrolled by filling the requisite form and depositing the same with the concerned ERO/AERO,” he said. The elections to Panchayats and Municipalities, which was due to be held in October-November 2023, have been delayed due to reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for the first time in panchayat and municipal elections.The term of Municipalities ended in October-November 2023 and Panchayats completed their five year tenure on January 9, 2024. The BDCs too ceased to exist after the five-year tenure of the Panchayats ended.The holding of Panchayat elections depends on submission of a report by a Commission formed by J&K government to determine the percentage of reservation to be given to OBCs in Panchayat and Municipal elections.The commission is headed by Justice (Retd) Janak Raj Kotwal, and constituted by members Raj Kumar Baghat (retired IAS officer) and Prof Mohinder Singh Bhadwal (former dean of SKUAST Jammu).
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