On Wednesday, the Jammu and Kashmir government appointed Block Development Officers (BDOs) from the local bureaucracy as administrators of panchayats, following the expiration of the term of 28,000 panchs or elected grassroots representatives on January 9.
An official order stated, “The term of Halqa Panchayat(s) has expired on 09.01.2024 and the government is satisfied it cannot be constituted immediately.”
Under Section 9 of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, the government invoked its powers to appoint the BDOs as administrators “for running the affairs of the panchayat halqas under their jurisdiction for a period of six months from January 10, 2024 or till further orders.”
With the term of panchayats coming to an end, there is currently no elected institution in place in Jammu and Kashmir. Both urban local bodies and panchayats have completed their term in the past six months. The last Assembly elections were held in 2014 and there have been no elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the PDP-BJP alliance fell apart in 2018.