Srinagar, Feb 23 (KNO): Curtains will fall on the Panchayati Raj system in Jammu & Kashmir on Tuesday, with its last surviving tier-the District Development Councils-completing their term. The District Development Councils will complete their five-year tenure on February 24, 2026, marking the end of the third tier of the Panchayati Raj system in J&K.
Speaking to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Javaid Ahmad Dar, said there is no need to assign functions of DDCs to officers, as no such provision exists in law. “There is no need to appoint administrators for DDCs,” he said.
The term of the first two tiers of the Panchayati Raj system-Panchayats and Block Development Councils-ended on January 9, 2024, while the tenure of Urban Local Bodies concluded in October–November 2023.
The elected DDCs came into existence in 2020 after the Union Home Ministry amended the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, by invoking powers vested with it under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
Each DDC comprises 14 elected members. With J&K having 20 districts, the total strength of DDC members is 280. In the first-ever DDC elections held in November–December 2020, the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) won 110 seats, while the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats.
In the subsequent DDC chairperson elections, the NC took control of six councils, the BJP six, the Apni Party two, and the PDP, PC, and CPI (M) one each. In three other districts, independent candidates were elected as chairpersons—(KNO)