Days after the dates for the panchayat election in Jammu and Kashmir came, the National Conference slammed the move by saying there is no point taking part in the polls when the top leadership of the party continues to be under detention.
“There is no point contesting the panchayat elections when the party president, vice president, and general secretary are under detention,” said NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar.
“They are the ones supposed to sign the nomination papers of the contesting candidates,” he added.
As reported by IANS, PDP has said that with its top leadership under detention the party is yet to take a call on taking part in Panchayat polls.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer, Shailendra Kumar had on Thursday informed that Panchayat elections on the vacant seats will be conducted in eight phases in the region in the month of March for which the ballot boxes will be used.
Giving breakage of the eight phases of the election, he told, “The first phase of elections will be held on March 5, second phase on March 7, third phase on March 9, fourth phase on March 12, fifth phase on March 14, sixth phase on March 16, seventh phase on March 18 and the eighth phase on March 20.”
In the last Panchayat election held in 2018, two key political parties in the state, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) did not participate. The election was boycotted in Kashmir valley leaving a major chunk of seats vacant in panchayats.