After forming new govt with PDP in J&K, BJP now eyes on panchayat & ULB polls, Jammu and Kashmir, urban local bodies, darbars , PDP, BJP

After forming new govt with PDP in J&K, BJP now eyes on panchayat & ULB polls,Jammu and Kashmir, urban local bodies,darbars, PDP, BJP

The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), which is presently ruling the state of Jammu and Kashmir in a coalition government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is now eyeing urban local bodies (ULB) and panchayats in the state, for which elections are likely to be held in August this year.

To garner the maximum possible support for the coming elections, the BJP has introduced the system of publicdarbars in all the three regions of state, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. The party has designated 10 ministers for 10 districts of the Kashmir valley, who will be holding darbars after every 15 days to strengthen the party at the grassroot level.

The idea of public darbars was first introduced in the winter capital Jammu, and it turned out be a grand success, and from 11 May, BJP ministers held public interactions in six districts of Kashmir.

“We are preparing for the local bodies and panchayat elections, but that is not entirely the purpose of these darbars. We had promised to take governance at the doorsteps of people and that is what we are doing,” said the BJP minister in the state government, Choudhary Lal Singh, to Firstpost, who has been tasked with the responsibility of Srinagar, where he recently presided over a meeting that saw participation by several top officials of the district.

Singh said ministers will be holding public darbars in all the 10 districts of Kashmir once in a month.

The state government headed by Mehbooba Mufti is likely to hold both urban local bodies and panchayat elections any time after the completion of Amarnath Yatra, and the final call is likely to be made during the budget session of the legislature in Srinagar.

The panchayat elections held in early 2011 after a gap of 37 years in Kashmir, witnessed the killing of many aspiring candidates and elected ones, allegedly by militants. The municipal elections were held in early 2005, after a gap of 26 years.

Governor NN Vohra has decided to hold the urban local body polls in April-May and the panchayat elections in June. However, before the election schedule could be announced, the PDP-BJP revived its coalition government but it issued no order to the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold ULB elections.

 The municipal elections are likely to be held first, followed by the panchayat elections.

SRC:firstpost

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