JAMMU, OCT 6: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday stepped up its demand for a clear timeline for the restoration of grassroots electoral institutions in Jammu and Kashmir, with BJP spokesperson Rajni Sethi questioning the National Conference-led government over what she described as continued uncertainty surrounding elections to the Block Development Councils (BDCs), District Development Councils (DDCs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
Sethi said women across Jammu and Kashmir were seeking political representation and democratic participation, not charity or political favour, and argued that prolonged uncertainty over local elections was restricting opportunities for women who had emerged as grassroots leaders through earlier electoral exercises.
She recalled that the Urban Local Bodies elections held in 2018, after a prolonged gap, opened an important avenue for women to enter municipal governance. The subsequent BDC and DDC elections further expanded the scope for women to participate in grassroots decision-making, with elected women representatives taking up local issues and assuming leadership roles in their respective communities.
According to Sethi, the experience of these elections demonstrated that women were not merely a constituency to be mobilised during elections but active participants in governance who could represent public concerns and contribute to development at the local level.
She alleged that despite the passage of considerable time since the formation of the present National Conference government, there was still no clear roadmap for holding the pending local elections. Sethi said the absence of a definite timeline had created uncertainty among prospective candidates and people seeking elected representation at the grassroots.
“The question today is simple: why should women still have to struggle for their basic democratic and political rights?” Sethi said, asserting that women aspiring to serve through Panchayats, BDCs, DDCs and Urban Local Bodies should have an institutional platform to contest elections and participate in decision-making.
Taking particular exception to the argument that elections cannot be held until restoration of statehood, she said statehood and grassroots democratic elections should not be presented as mutually dependent issues. She maintained that restoration of representative institutions should remain an important component of strengthening democratic governance in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sethi also linked the issue with the broader national discourse on women-led development, saying women must have opportunities to translate their participation in public life into elected representation and decision-making. She said women, who constitute nearly half of society, should not be viewed merely through an electoral lens but as stakeholders in governance and development.
The BJP spokesperson called upon the National Conference government to provide a clear, publicly communicated electoral roadmap and initiate the process for BDC, DDC and Urban Local Bodies elections at the earliest in accordance with the applicable constitutional and legal framework.
She said restoring elected grassroots institutions would not only provide political representation but also strengthen accountability and give communities a direct channel to raise local development and governance concerns.
Sethi’s statement places the issue of local democracy, women’s political representation and the pending electoral calendar at the centre of the BJP’s criticism of the J&K government, with the party demanding clarity on when people will once again have the opportunity to elect representatives to key grassroots institutions.
