The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole, has issued a new list reserving 358 municipal wards out of 1,119 for women in a move aimed at promoting gender representation in local governance. The CEO has called for objections and suggestions regarding this list within a week, reports news agency PTI.
This allocation of reserved wards, encompassing Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and women, is based on population data, as reported by the election department. Among the 1,119 wards distributed across 77 municipal bodies in the Union territory, 358 wards have been earmarked for women, 86 for SC, and 14 for ST.
The CEO’s decision aligns with the provisions outlined in Section 10-A of the Jammu & Kashmir Municipal Corporation Act, 2000, and Section 11-A of the Jammu & Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000, which mandate the reservation of wards for women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes.
In light of this announcement, the chief electoral officer has welcomed objections and suggestions regarding the notification. “Any objections and suggestions should reach the CEO, Nirvachan Bhawan Jammu, or Darul Intikhab, Srinagar, within 7 days from the issuance of this notice till September after which no objections or suggestions will be entertained,” the CEO stated.
Notably, 33 percent of the total wards are reserved for women, and within this quota, a third of the seats are reserved for women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The highest number of reserved wards for women, totaling 25 in each, are designated in the Srinagar and Jammu civic bodies. This is followed by the reservation of eight wards in Anantnag and seven in Baramulla, Spore, Udhampur, and Kathua districts.
The allocation of seats has been determined based on the descending order of the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, with wards having a population of less than one percent for these categories in the 2005 and 2018 elections being excluded from reservation.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that Ward numbers 16 and 56 of Jammu Municipal Corporation, from where Mayor Rajinder Sharma and Deputy Mayor Baldev Singh Baloria were elected, have been reserved for women from open and SC categories, respectively.
(PTI inputs)
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