Over 98% Turnout in Jammu and Kashmir’s First Block Development Council Polls

Jammu and Kashmir held its first-ever Block Development Council (BDC) elections on Thursday, recording a turnout of more than 98% while most of the region’s mainstream politicians remained in detention.

The setting

The vote was the first held since the Centre’s decision of August 5, which ended the state’s special status under Article 370, split it into Union Territories and was followed by a clampdown in Kashmir. Officials said these would be the final polls before the formal division into two Union Territories.

The National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, the two main regional parties, boycotted the polls, as they had the village-level panchayat elections held the previous year. The Congress also announced a boycott, though the election office said two Congress candidates filed nominations, one of which was rejected.

The results

Shailender Kumar, the region’s chief election official, told reporters in Srinagar that voting took place in 280 of the 316 blocks, and that candidates in at least 27 blocks were returned unopposed. Independents won 217 seats and the BJP 81, while the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party and the Congress took one apiece.

• Kashmir: independents took 109 of the 128 seats, with 18 going to the BJP and one to the Congress.
• Ladakh: the BJP won 11 seats and independents 20, despite the region’s long-standing demand for Union Territory status having been met.

The electorate for choosing BDC chairpersons was 26,629, made up of 18,316 men and 8,313 women. BDCs form the middle tier of the three-level Panchayati Raj system of village, block and district bodies.

Reactions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the winners in Jammu, Kashmir, Leh and Ladakh on Twitter. Kumar said polling was peaceful with no untoward incident, adding that security arrangements had matched those for the Lok Sabha polls.

See also: {page:/election-news/|more election news}.

Originally published on 25 October 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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