70 lakh eligible to vote in panchayat polls in J&K after electoral rolls update

Jammu, Jan 20 (PTI) More than 70 lakh voters, including over 34 lakh women, are eligible to vote in the panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the annual revision of electoral rolls, officials said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Election Commission on Monday concluded annual revision of panchayat electoral rolls that were published with January 1, 2025, as the qualifying date, an official spokesperson said.

During the annual revision of the panchayat electoral rolls, which began on November 11 with the publication of the draft electoral rolls, several additions, deletions and changes in the entries were incorporated, the spokesperson said.

He said 3,41,072 new voters have been added and 1,10,768 names have been deleted due to death, relocation or other reasons. 

Besides, corrections were carried out in the details of 10,726 voters and 31,180 voters were transposed to other panchayat wards, the spokesperson said.

The final panchayat electoral roll has 70,00,670 voters — 35,66,475 males and 34,34,048 females and 147 third gender voters.

The commission appreciated the cooperation of all stakeholders, including political parties, district panchayat election officers, panchayat observers, and others who turned up in huge numbers to register their names in the electoral rolls.

The spokesperson added that the process of revision is a continuous exercise, and added that all eligible voters who are 18 years of age, as on January 1, 2025, and their names are not in the final electoral rolls can get themselves enrolled by filling the requisite form and depositing it with the concerned offices.