Image Source: TRIBUNE

The panchayat byelections for more than 12,000 vacant posts of sarpaches and panches that were deferred on February 18 are unlikely to be held anytime soon as the government is yet to give the security clearance to the election authorities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The UT government’s advice to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of J&K and Ladakh on February 18, urging him to consider “deferring the polls” in view of some credible inputs regarding the security situation that forced the CEO to defer the polls midway, has not been withdrawn. The review of the security in the next two weeks’ time – the deadline expired on March 3 – to reschedule the polls, has not been done as the election authorities have received no such communication on the matter.