Mehbooba Mufti hopes panchayat polls will draw voters
The decision to hold the Panchayat polls after a gap of two years was taken a few days ago in the cabinet meeting chaired by Mufti and announced by the government on Monday.
Amid separatists call for poll boycott, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti hoped that people will choose ballot over bullet and participate in the Panchayat polls scheduled to be held in February.
"I am very pleased to announce that the long-overdue Panchayat elections in J&K will be held from February 15, 2018. People in the state have always chosen ballots over bullets and will continue to do so," tweeted Mufti.The decision to hold the Panchayat polls after a gap of two years was taken a few days ago in the cabinet meeting chaired by Mufti and announced by the government on Monday.
Seen as one of the biggest achievement of the Omar Abdullah government, the Panchayat elections were last held in 2011 after a 33-year hiatus in Jammu and Kashmir. The panchayat elections were again due last year, but were postponed indefinitely in the aftermath of the Burhan Wani killing unrest.
Unimpressed, All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference, (AJKPC), an apex body of former Panchayat representatives, demanded implementation of 73rd amendment of Indian Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir before conducting Panchayat elections.
An emergency meeting of ex-Panchayat members was held at Jammu on Tuesday to discuss the issue in detail. Speaking on the occasion, president AJKPC Anil Sharma said, "Such elections are just a drama of the state government to get the central funds released. It will not serve any purpose for the people of the state. We will fight for the real Panchayati Raj as is the norm in other states," he said.