Muzaffarabad (PID) The independent government of the state of Jammu and Kashmir has not reduced the number of seats reserved for women and youth in local elections, but has amended the law to ensure 12.5% quota for youth and women representation so that all local councils have In this regard, the officials of the Local Government Department have clarified that the representation of youth and women in local elections has not been reduced, but in December 2021, the Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. In compliance with the decision given by the redistricting, a legal amendment has been made to ensure representation of women and youth in all local councils and to remove ambiguity, which specifies that in 2021 According to the amendment of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Local Government Act 1990, 12.5% of the total directly elected members in each local council were reserved for women and 12.5% for youth. On the other hand, in the light of the decision of the Supreme Court in December 2021, the upper limit of the total population of the Union Council was reduced from 25000 to 15000. Similarly, the upper limit of the population of the wards was reduced from 3000 to 2000. In the light of the Supreme Court’s guidance, due to changing the population of the Union Council and Wards, the number of Union Councils increased in the revised constituencies, while the Union Councils increased. The number of wards within HA decreased. Currently, out of total 319 local councils, 175 local councils have seven or less directly elected members per local council, while in each local council two representatives of women and youth are elected for the proposer and endorser. Eight directly elected members are required. In such a case, there will be no recommenders and endorsers for women and youth representatives in these local councils and youth and women representatives will not be able to be elected in these 175 local councils. In view of the above situation, the law has been changed to minimum 01 representative instead of minimum 02 representatives to enable indirect election of members to represent women and youth in all local councils. It is important to clarify here that in the local councils in which the number of directly elected candidates will be 12 or more, in these local councils women and youth representatives will be elected at the rate of 12.5%. Thus, no change has been made in the representation of youth and women in local councils (12.5% per category), but legal amendments have been made to ensure the representation of women and youth in all local councils and to facilitate the procedure. .
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