Unprecedented 3% increase in voters in J&K Panchayat elections: CEC Shantmanu

04 May 2026, 18:14 by Northlines · Northlines

Final electoral rolls to be published on 21^st of this month

Arvind Sharma

Jammu Tawi, May 04: In the upcoming panchayat elections in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the number of voters has increased to more than 3%, which is far more than the voters who participated in the previous panchayat elections in J&K.

More significantly is the fact that as per the ongoing revision of the voter lists, the number of voters for panchayat elections has also gone up in each district of J&K.

“The updation of electoral rolls has been going on and the final publication will be put in public domain on 21^st of this month,” State Election Commissioner (SEC), Shantmanu, informed the Northlines.

After publication of the final electoral rolls, a meeting will be held by the Union Home Ministry with the J&K government during which the final call will be taken for holding panchayat elections in J&K, the SEC further said.

He said that the call for holding Panchayat election in J&K will be taken by the government keeping in view all the security measures.

“In any case, the Panchayat elections in J&K will be held anytime this year,” Shantmanu said, while adding, “the 3% increase in number of voters is an encouraging sign indicating that grass roots level democracy is strong in J&K”.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has decided to buy forty thousand (40,000) more ballot boxes for these elections and these will be bought through proper tendering process.

Already, 30,000 ballot boxes have been sent to different districts of J&K for smooth conduct of Panchayat elections.

“We felt the need of 40,000 more ballot boxes apart from the 30,000 already sent to different districts of J&K for holding the Panchayat elections in the J&K UT,” sources informed the Northlines.

They said that the 40,000 ballot boxes will be bought by way of global tendering process through Gem Portal. After getting the ballot boxes, the SEC will send these to different polling stations under tight security.