Jammu, Mar 11 (IANS): The State Advisory Council (SAC) headed by Governor N.N. Vohra will meet here on Friday to take a final call on holding elections to the local urban bodies in Jammu and Kashmir by the middle of this year.

Administrative sources told IANS the SAC will meet to formally request the state chief electoral officer to hold the local government bodies elections in urban areas for the two municipal corporations of Jammu and Srinagar in addition to other municipal councils and committees in the state.

Members for the two municipal corporations, six municipal councils and 72 municipal committees are to be elected in these elections which have been delayed for nearly five years.

The governor is also likely to amend the municipal corporations election rules to pave the way for use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in these elections.

According to the governor's administration, the state has already lost funds worth Rs.169 crore under 13th Finance Commission award in addition to Rs.125 crore of central allocation because of non-existent local urban government bodies.