Amid Lockdown And Detentions, J-K Block Development Council Polls On October 24

The Jammu and Kashmir State Election Commission on Sunday announced that Block Development Council (BDC) elections would be held on October 24. The notification for the election will be issued on October 1 while October 9 will be the last date for filing of nominations, chief electoral officer Jammu and Kashmir Shailendra Kumar told reporters. “The scrutiny of nominations will be done on October 10, the last date for withdrawal is October 11 while the polling for these posts will be held on October 24,” Kumar said.

He said the polling will be held from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm while the counting of votes will begin at 3.00 pm the same day. The process of the elections for the second tier of the Panchayati Raj system will be completed by November 5, he added.

Giving details, he said nearly 24 percent (12,766) of the posts of panchs and sarpanches are vacant due to various reasons, including resignations, deaths, and non-conduct of the polls during the exercise held last winter.

Over 18,000 panchs and sarpanches are eligible to take part in the elections in Jammu division but Kashmir division has only 7528 elected panchs and sarpanches.

As many as 69 BDC chairperson posts have been reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates including 21 women, 25 posts for Scheduled Castes (seven women) and 78 posts for women from General Category.

Kumar said the elections will be held on party basis and 26,629 pants and sarpanches are eligible to vote and contest for the post of BDC chairpersons.

The elections come at a time when most senior leaders of mainstream political parties in the Valley are under detention. According to the Indian Express report, 250 under the J&K Public Safety Act and hundreds under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code.