Pulwama: Independent candidates and the Bharatiya Janata Party were the big winners of Jammu & Kashmir’s maiden Block Development Council (BDC) elections Thursday, which marked the first poll exercise in the state since the scrapping of Article 370 in August.
The polls were boycotted by two of the Valley’s main players, the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on account of the widespread detentions of leaders following the Article 370 decision.
Blocks are a district subdivision. BDC elections are held to elect chairpersons of each block, with panchs and sarpanchs serving as participants as well as voters.
There are a total of 316 blocks across J&K, but elections were supposed to be held in 307 — nine are yet to go to the polls for multiple reasons, such as there being no candidates for four blocks reserved for women. The chairpersons to another 27 blocks were elected unopposed.
As many as 98.3 per cent of the 26,029 electors turned out to vote, but it is important to note here that several panch and sarpanch seats remain vacant following the NC and PDP’s boycott of last year’s panchayat elections in the state.
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‘Successful elections’
In the Kashmir division, BJP candidates won 18 of the 128 blocks, while independents won 109. A candidate of the Congress, which had earlier said it would stay away from the elections, won a block in Pulwama.
As many as 60 per cent of panch and sarpanch seats in Kashmir remain vacant, which means, effectively, only 40 per cent of the voters strength was in place to cast ballots.
In Jammu division, the BJP won 52 of 148 seats, while the J&K Panthers Party won eight. Independent candidates again took the lion’s share, 88 blocks.
Eleven of Ladakh’s 31 blocks were won by the BJP, while independents won the rest.
“The elections were conducted successfully. Security arrangements were made similar to those during the Lok Sabha elections,” J&K’s Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar said, although he did not reveal the total number of security personnel deployed.
Kumar said the poll panel had been in talks with the NC and the PDP to contest the elections, but the parties stayed away anyway.
Pandit in the fray
In Lassipora, rebel BJP leader Ghulam Mohammad Mir contested as an independent against fellow party member Sajad Raina, and won.
Kashmiri Pandit Manoj Pandita, who became sarpanch last year, contested the election from Kakpora on a BJP ticket against independent Umer Jan.
Hinting at a change in the Valley since the Pandits were driven out by militants three decades ago, Pandita said he “travelled alone everywhere”.
“I meet villagers often and visit my constituency regularly. I have had no problems,” he added. “There is no threat to me. What I want to do is to work for my village.” Pandita lost the election.
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