Local bodies’ elections soon, preparations certainly complete: JK Lieutenant Governor

Srinagar, Oct 24: The Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Tuesday said that local bodies’ elections in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir will be held as soon as the backward classes commission submits its report on OBC reservation, required security forces are made available and weather conditions allow it.

“The panchayat elections should have been held earlier, but the administration is awaiting the report on reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs),” Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha as per news agency PTI said.

"If the elections had been held without this (report), the court would have stopped them. Therefore, we had to go to Parliament to amend this. Preparations (for polls) are certainly complete," he said.

Sinha asserted as soon as the report of the backward classes commission is received, local bodies elections will be held.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has set up a commission to recommend the number of seats reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies.

The elections for J&K Legislative Assembly concluded recently in three phases from September 18 to October 01 this year. The counting of votes took place on October 08, in which the INDIA alliance, consisting of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M)), won a majority of seats in the election, winning 49 of the 90 seats for which elections were held.

The National Conference won 42, the highest number of seats in the elections, while the Congress has won 6 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, has emerged as the second largest party, bagged 29 seats in Jammu belt.