Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday said that the dates for upcoming panchayat and municipal elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be announced on November 3 or 4. These elections will be the first in the region after August 5, 2019, when the special status of J&K was abrogated and the state was split into two UTs.The election process will be held to fill over 13,000 vacant panchayat seats and it will be seen as an attempt to restart the political process in the region once again.Speaking to News18, LG Sinha said the upcoming local body and panchayat polls were part of the government’s efforts to bolster the three-tier panchayat system of governance in the country.“We have strengthened the three-tier system. It was decided in the 73rd amendment, when it was enacted in Parliament in 1992, that there will be a three-tier system of panchayats in the country. Now on November 3 or 4, elections are to be announced (in this regard),” Sinha said.He added, “The upcoming polling process would see election of panch, sarpanch, Block Development Council (BDC) members and chairpersons, and District Development Council (DDC) members and their chiefs, all of whom are going to play more important roles together in the future.”As per official data, there are around 11,500 panch and 890 sarpanch seats lying vacant in Kashmir, while 185 panch and 124 sarpanch seats are vacant in Jammu division.
