Arteev Sharma
Jammu: The announcement of Panchayat and Municipal elections in Ladakh next month has put Omar Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) government in Jammu and Kashmir under scrutiny, with opposition parties questioning its “reluctance” to hold elections to grassroots democratic institutions in the Union Territory.
They have accused the ruling dispensation of adopting a “dictatorial approach” to avoid elections amid alleged “growing public discontent over its two-year poor performance” while arguing that local body “elections should not be made conditional on the restoration of statehood”.
While pointing out that Ladakh, which has also been demanding statehood and constitutional safeguards, is proceeding with elections to its Panchayats and Municipal bodies, the opposition leaders said the elected representatives could help the government in addressing public grievances.
Talking to The News Now, former Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) Deputy Mayor and BJP spokesperson Purnima Sharma accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of “undermining democratic norms” by delaying local body elections for “political reasons”.
She said that while National Conference president and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah had been advocating the restoration of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir, his son was denying people the opportunity to elect their local representatives.
Terming Omar Abdullah’s reported decision to link local body elections with statehood restoration “a reflection of his dictatorial approach”, she alleged that the government was avoiding elections amid “growing public discontent over its performance during the past two years”.
Omar Abdullah’s, in a recent sarcastic remark to the BJP’s demand for clarity over Panchayat elections in the Legislative Assembly, had reportedly expressed “reluctance” to hold these elections at an “appropriate time” to where he indicated that his government could adopt the Centre’s stance on statehood restoration to justify the delay in Panchayat elections. “You say appropriate time for statehood, we will say the same for Panchayat polls,” he had said, responding to demands for clarity on the election schedule.
Shafiq Mir, chairman of All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) has opposed linking Panchayat elections with the restoration of statehood, saying grassroots governance should not be held hostage to the statehood issue.
He said that if Omar Abdullah was genuinely committed to restoration of statehood, he should not have contested the Assembly elections held under the Union Territory framework. “If Omar Abdullah is sincere in his words for restoration of statehood, he should first step down from the Legislative Assembly. He should not have contested the UT election. If he contested the election, it means he has accepted or acknowledged the Union Territory,” Mir said.
He said politicians were focusing on their own political empowerment instead of empowering people through local institutions. “We don’t want statehood; we want local governance. We want empowerment of the people, not empowerment of politicians,” he said, adding that genuine public empowerment could come only through elected Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
AAP MLA Mehraj Malik while addressing a press conference also demanded that Panchayat and other local body elections in Jammu and Kashmir be held without linking them to the restoration of statehood. He urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to press the Centre for statehood while ensuring that grassroots elections were not delayed.
“The anger over this issue should not be directed at the people. The Chief Minister himself must take up the fight,” Malik said, stressing that elections to District Development Councils, Block Development Councils and Panchayati Raj institutions, including those of sarpanches and panches, must be held to ensure public participation in governance.
He said elected local representatives were essential for addressing people’s grievances and preventing alleged bureaucratic high-handedness.
Congress spokesperson Ravinder Sharma, meanwhile, supported early elections to rural and urban local bodies but stressed that reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) must be ensured.
“We are in favour of early elections of Panchayats and urban local bodies, but we have learnt that the elections are being delayed on the issue of reservation to OBCs,” he said.
Sharma said a three-member OBC Commission headed by former High Court judge Janak Raj Kotwal had submitted its report to the government in February 2025. The report was subsequently forwarded to the Lieutenant Governor and then to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), he said, adding that the decision on OBC reservation now rested with the Centre in consultation with the UT government.
However, he also criticised the BJP, arguing that the party was in power before the terms of the Panchayat and Municipal bodies expired. “It exposes the BJP’s hypocrisy as they were in power before the expiry of the term of Panchayat and Municipal bodies in Jammu and Kashmir. They owe an explanation to the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
At present, J&K is without any elected local body as all the three tiers of the Panchayati Raj institutions have become non-existent in the UT. The term of the erstwhile Panchayats and Block Development Councils (BDCs) in J&K concluded on January 9, 2024. Before that, the urban local bodies completed their term in October-November 2023. The term of District Development Councils drew to a close on February 24, 2026.
According to the Panchayati Raj Act, the dates for holding elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions are to be finalised by the government in consultation with the SEC.
The SEC has repeatedly informed the government that the requisite preparations for rural local body elections have been completed. The commission has also asked the government to communicate the proposed election dates one or two months in advance to enable it to make the necessary arrangements.
