‎Srinagar, Sep 29 (KNS): The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 2026, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah saying the changes were intended to remove ambiguity in the existing law rather than create new confusion.
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‎The Bill, L.A. Bill No. 10 of 2026, seeks changes to provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000 relating to the minimum strength of municipal bodies and the process for determining municipal wards. The Bill was introduced by Omar Abdullah, who also holds the Housing and Urban Development portfolio.
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‎Speaking during the discussion on the Bill, Omar said one of the amendments was aimed at resolving an inconsistency in the existing provision regarding the minimum number of elected members in a municipal body.
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‎He said Section 10(1) of the Act provides that a municipal body should have at least seven elected members, while the corresponding table provides for five members for municipal bodies with a population of up to 5,000.
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‎The amendment seeks to remove the reference to five members and retain seven as the minimum strength, thereby removing the contradiction between the two provisions.
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‎Omar said the government was not seeking to assume any additional powers through the proposed changes.
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‎Another amendment concerns the authority responsible for work related to the division of municipal areas and determination of wards.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
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‎Omar said the Deputy Commissioner and the district administration had been carrying out the exercise of dividing municipal areas and determining the territorial extent of wards before elections.
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‎He said the amendment was intended to remove uncertainty over whether the Deputy Commissioner or an election officer would be responsible for the exercise.
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‎The Chief Minister said the reference to the Chief Election Officer was being removed from the relevant provision to make the role clear.
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‎Omar argued that the changes were limited in scope and were intended to settle the ambiguity in the existing provisions before the next municipal election process.
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‎The Jammu and Kashmir Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 2026 was introduced in the Assembly on September 24 and had already been published in an extraordinary issue of the Official Gazette.
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‎During the discussion, Omar also said the government intended to hold Panchayat elections, though he did not give a specific timeline for the exercise.
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‎“Our intention is to hold a Panchayat election,” he said, adding that the elections would be held at the appropriate time.
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‎The Assembly subsequently passed the Bill.
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‎The amendments come as the Assembly is in the sixth session of the current Legislative Assembly, scheduled from September 21 to September 30.(KNS)