Jammu: J&K Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has notified wards to be reserved for women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the municipal bodies of the Union Territory (UT).
In relation to the notification proposing reservation of wards in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), he has also invited objections or suggestions and has given five days for the purpose.
“Any objections or suggestions should reach the Chief Electoral Officer, J&K, Nirvachan Bhawan Rail Head Complex, Jammu, or Darul Intikhab, M A Road, Srinagar, within 5 days from the issuance of this notice, i.e., September 9, 2023, after which no objections or suggestions shall be entertained,” read the notice by J&K CEO Pandurang K pole, issued on September 4, 2023.
Wards are to be reserved for women, SCs and STs in the municipal bodies of the UT in accordance with Section 10 A of the Jammu & Kashmir Municipal Corporation Act, 2000, and Section 11-A of the Jammu & Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000.
The wards to be notified as reserved wards for SCs, STs, women (Open category), women (SC category) and women (ST category) have been worked out on the basis of population data.
As per the notice, in case of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), out of its 74 wards, 25 wards are reserved for women under open category. These include ward number 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50, 53, 56, 59, 62, 65, 69, 71 and 74.
There will be no reservation of wards for SC and ST categories in SMC.
In the case of Jammu Municipal Corporation, out of its 75 wards, 25 wards are reserved for women, 10 are reserved for SC category and two are reserved for ST category.
Ten wards reserved for SC category include ward number 19, 29, 41, 45, 56, 57, 59, 65, 67 and 74. Out of these wards reserved for SC category, three wards viz., 29, 56 and 65 have been reserved for SC women.
Two wards reserved for ST category include 60 and 63, out of which one ward i.e., ward number 63 has been reserved for women under ST category.
21 wards reserved for women under open category include ward number 2, 5, 8, 12, 16, 18, 23, 26, 32, 36, 39, 40, 43, 46, 49, 52, 55, 61, 66, 72 and 73.
In the notice, CEO has also spelt out six principles adopted in determining the total number of reserved wards for each municipal body - category-wise, as well as identification of specific wards to be reserved for various categories in each municipal body.
Explaining principles followed for the purpose, Pole has mentioned that the number of wards reserved for various categories (SC, ST & Women) in each municipal body has been fixed “on the basis of the prescribed ratio under the Act for each category and applying the principle of mathematical round off with the part fraction of 0.5 and above being rounded off to 1 and part fraction below 0.5 being ignored for each Municipal Body separately.”
For women, the Act provides for reservation of wards at the rate of one-third (33 percent) of the total number of seats for each municipal body. This includes reservation for SC women candidates and ST women candidates at the rate of one-third of the number of seats reserved for SCs and STs respectively, in each municipal body. The number of wards to be reserved for women (open category), women (SC category) and women (ST category) for each municipal body has been fixed accordingly after applying the principle of mathematical rounding off for each municipal body separately.
The Jammu & Kashmir Municipal Corporation Act, 2000, amended from time to time provides that the number of wards to be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in every municipal body has to be in proportion to the total population of the SCs and STs in the area falling under the municipal body.
“For this purpose, the population of SCs and STs in the Municipal area has been furnished by the Deputy Commissioners. The identification of the wards to be reserved by rotation for SCs and STs is on the basis of SC or ST population of the identified wards in descending order, after excluding the wards reserved in 2005 and 2018 elections and such wards where their population percentage is less than that equivalent to one seat,” CEO has explained.
The allocation of specific wards to be reserved for women (open category), women (SC category) and women (ST category) has been done on a three-point roster system for each such category.
“The Roster points have been taken as open seat; seat reserved for women and open seat. This three-point roster system has been applied for each municipal body for the wards in each category of Open, Scheduled Caste, and Scheduled Tribes, after listing them in increasing numeric order for each category. In case the roster leads to a ward that has been reserved in 2005 or 2018 under the same category, the ward immediately next in the serial has been reserved for that particular roster point,” he has specified.
