Image Source: TRIBUTE

In a first major electoral exercise after the abrogation of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shailendra Kumar on Thursday announced eight-phase panchayat byelections to fill 12,650 seats in the union territory.

The elections will be held for 11,639 vacant seats for panches and 1,011 for sarpanches in 20 districts of the UT between March 5 and March 20.

Interestingly, panchayat elections will be held on a party basis this time. The elections in 2018 during Governor’s rule were conducted on a non-party basis. Due to non-participation of people in many parts of the state following terror threats, a large number of panchayat seats had remained vacant.

Addressing a press conference, CEO Shailendra Kumar said a majority of the seats for which elections will be held are in the Kashmir valley. “After taking into consideration all relevant factors and inputs from various stakeholders, elections will be held between March 5 and March 20. The first notification will be issued on February 15,” Kumar said.