Jammu and Kashmir local body elections: BJP bags 81 blocks; PM Modi hails historic voter turnout

The first democratic exercise in Jammu and Kashmir after the scrapping of its special status in August was held on Thursday. The Bharatiya Janata Party gained victory on 81 blocks, out of a total of 310 blocks, even after the Congress, CPI(M), NC and PDP did not take part in the elections. All major political parties, other than the BJP, stayed away from the Block Development Council (BDC) elections because of the continued detention of their leaders.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed happiness over the polling percentage recorded in the BDC elections. 

"News that would make every Indian proud! For the first time since 1947, Block Development Council elections were held in Jammu, Kashmir, Leh and Ladakh on the 24th. The polls witnessed a historic turnout of 98%. There were over 1080 candidates in the fray in 310 blocks," Modi said. 

"I am delighted to share that the BDC polls in Jammu, Kashmir, Leh and Ladakh were conducted in a very peaceful manner. There was no violence. This shows the people’s unwavering faith in democracy and the importance they accord to grassroots level governance, Modi said in another tweet. 

Out of the 26,629 eligible 'panch' and 'sarpanch', 98.3 per cent voted to elect 310 chairperson for their respective blocks, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shailendra Kumar said.

Panch and Sarpanch are elected by people at the village level. These representatives go on to elect chairpersons of Block Development Councils which are a second-tier organisation in the Panchayati Raj system.

The state has 316 blocks but elections were held in 283 blocks on Thursday. In 27 blocks, chairpersons were elected unopposed.

Elections couldn't take place in two blocks as they did not have an elected panch and sarpanch, while in four blocks reserved for women, there was no elected woman panch.

The panch and sarpanch in Srinagar were taken in a bus under security cover to facilitate them in polling and the district, which has been witnessing a tense atmosphere since August 5 when the state's special status under Article 370 was abrogated by the Centre, saw 100 per cent polling by 11 am.

The similar exercise was followed in all remaining districts in Kashmir, where terrorists have threatened to disrupt the democratic exercise.

The poll percentage for the 10 districts in the Kashmir region was 93.65 per cent and 99.4 per cent for the 10 districts in the Jammu region, Kumar said.

There were 26,629 panch and sarpanch voters -- 8,313 women and 18,316 men -- for the polls to elect chairpersons of BDCs, officials said.

PRIs have three levels -- village, block and district -- and election for the first tier were held last year, which was also boycotted by the National Conference (NC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP).

Congress, CPI(M), NC and PDP did not take part in the elections, which were held on party basis, leaving the field open to the BJP, that had candidates in 280 blocks, and Independents.

The National Conference had made clear that it would be able to decide on participating in the BDC elections only after its leadership was released so that a broader consultation could be held.

The party's two former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar have been in detention since August 5 and so has been PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.

The senior Abdullah was slapped with the stringent Public Safety Act last month.

Scores of political leaders from both the parties are also under preventive detention at the Centaur Hotel.

The NC had slammed the decision to hold BDC elections, alleging it is "the biggest mockery of democracy" to hold polls when the entire leadership of the state is "under detention".

The Congress had announced its decision to boycott the elections citing "indifferent attitude" of the state administration and continued detention of its leaders in Kashmir.

Also Read | 98 per cent polling recorded in first-ever BDC polls in Jammu and Kashmir