Amid the demand of all political parties to conduct the maiden assembly elections in the Union Territory, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir changed the date of publishing the final electoral roll from October 31 to November 25, 2022.
Earlier, it was announced that the Election Commission will publish the finalized electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir on October 31. In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of J&K, ECI had given a timeline to complete various activities before the final publication of the electoral rolls on October 31.
Announcing the new schedule for publishing the CEO stated "In continuation to its earlier notification dated 29th June 2022, the Election Commission of India further notifies the schedule of special summary revision with reference to 1st October 2022 as the qualifying date, in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A notification in this regard was issued by the Election Commission of India on 8th August 2022. The schedule for the final publication of the electoral roll is 25-11-2022", the CEO stated.
Anyone who attains the age of 18 years on or before October 31, 2022, will be an eligible voter
The Election Commission of India, in pursuance of the legal amendments in Section 14(b) of the RP Act 1950 and consequent modifications in Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, whereby a provision for four qualifying dates i.e., 01st January, 01st April, 01st July and 01st October as eligibility for youngsters to register in electoral rolls as opposed to the earlier single qualifying date of 1st January only has been made, notified the Special Summary Revision(SSR) exercise for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir with reference to 1st October 2022 as the qualifying date.
"This means that any person who attains the age of 18 years on or before 1st October 2022 and is otherwise qualified to be enrolled as an elector in the electoral roll, can apply for his registration in the electoral roll during this special summary revision campaign", a statement issued by CEO reads.
Post delimitation follow-up work is going on in UT
At present, the pre-revision activities, as well as post-delimitation follow-up work, are going on in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, wherein the existing electoral roll is being mapped into the newly delimited assembly constituencies as per the Delimitation Commission's final order made applicable by the Union Law Ministry w.e.f. 20th May 2022.
"As part of the pre-revision activities, the process of rationalization/re-arrangement of polling stations, removal of discrepancies of demographically similar entries/photo similar entries, duplicate EPICs, preparation of supplements and integrated draft roll with reference to 01.10.2022 as the qualifying date is going on at present in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir", the CEO stated.
The integrated draft roll with reference to 01-10-2022 as the qualifying date shall now be published by all EROs of the UT on 15th September 2022, marking the formal beginning of the revision activities.
VVPAT machines start reaching J&K
Reports said that the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines have started reaching the Union Territory amid the process of rationalization of polling stations.
"The VVPAT machines have started reaching Jammu and Kashmir indicating about holding of assembly elections in November-December this year. The Election Commission of India will take the final call next month," a local news agency reported while quoting sources in the Election Department.
