Srinagar:
Jammu and Kashmir government today decided to put off next month's elections to Block Development Councils (BDC) in order to provide for reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and women candidates in them.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Omar Abdullah this evening.
The cabinet also decided to bring an ordinance for cancelling the BDC polls for which the notification was issued on October 4, an official spokesman said here.
Tomorrow is the last date for filing nominations for the BDC polls. The poll process was to be completed by November 7.
In the last one year, the state government had taken a series of actions to empower panchayats and strengthen the Panchayati Raj system by giving an effective role to the elected representatives at the grassroots level, the spokesman said.
However, over the last couple of months, there has been a demand from various stakeholders as well as opinion leaders who have been associated with the governance of panchayats in different parts of the country, for bringing in certain changes in the state's Panchayati Raj Act in a bid to further strengthen panchayats and also make reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women, the spokesman said.
Taking cognizance of views on the issue, the Chief Minister constituted a core group of the alliance partners (National Conference and Congress) comprising ministers belonging to both the parties.
The core group made certain recommendations which were considered at a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister on Sunday and attended by President of J&K Pradesh Congress Committee Saif-ud-Din Soz along with other members from National Conference and Congress, where a decision was taken that the state cabinet should be apprised of the recommendations made by this core group for a suitable decision in the matter, the spokesman said.
"The state cabinet which met here today, after thoroughly studying the recommendations of the core group and after considering the opinions of different people, decided that to strengthen the resolve of the government for a robust Panchayati Raj system, certain changes have to be incorporated in the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, thereby creating a steel-frame of democracy at the grass root level," he added.
"In order to bring these changes in a transparent manner after due diligence and deliberations with all the stakeholders, the cabinet decided to bring an ordinance for cancellation of general elections of Chairman of Block Development Councils", he said.