By IANS,
Srinagar : A day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi begins his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the state government Wednesday issued the notification for the block development councils (BDCs) polls Nov 7.
“The government had issued a notification calling upon all the panchayat halqas (villages) in the state to elect sarpanches (elected village heads) and panches (elected village representatives),” said a statement.
The election authority (chief electoral officer) has appointed 143 returning officers and 145 assistant returning officers, 145 presiding and 290 polling officers to conduct the polls.
The government approved that the elections would be held on non-party basis for the establishment of panchayati raj institutions at all the three-tiers, it said.
“Subsequently, the elections for sarpanches and panches have been conducted. As per Section 28 of the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, every block development council (BDC) shall have a chairman who shall be a person qualified to be elected as a panch,” the statement said.
The chairman of the BDC shall be elected by the electoral college comprising of elected panches and sarpanches of halqa panchayats falling within the block.
As per the latest electoral rolls of panches and sarpanches, there are 29,402 panches and 4,098 sarpanches in the state.
“The elections shall be conducted through the use of ballot boxes and ballot papers. Photo electoral rolls of all the panches and sarpanches have been prepared and will be used during the polling. There will be 145 polling stations for the conduct of these elections,” the statement added.
Voting will take place between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the counting of votes shall also be conducted Nov 7 after completion of polling.
“The model code of conduct also comes in operation with immediate effect,” it said.