Jammu: The Congress on Monday claimed that the BJP’s vote share in the District Development Council (DDC) polls declined by around 25 percent in Jammu region as compared to the last Lok Sabha elections.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress in-charge Rajni Patil alleged that the “BJP made every attempt to polarise the election atmosphere for vested political interests but the Congress is a unifying force and would not compromise on its inclusive policies for the sake of political interests”.
“The decline of around 25 percent vote share of the BJP in Jammu region in just over one year of the last Lok Sabha polls should worry the ruling party more than claiming victory in just five districts out of 20 districts in the hurriedly-announced DDC elections,” she told reporters here.
Flanked by Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief G A Mir, Patil questioned the government for “deliberately not keeping the provisions of the anti-defection law and not declaring the roaster of reservation of DDC chairpersons, as per the existing law, before holding of the DDC polls, thus keeping the doors of horse-trading open”.
She said “all over the country where elections are held on party basis for Panchayat bodies, the anti-defection law is applied but here the government has not inserted such provision while holding election to the DDCs”.
The roster of reservation for DDC chairpersons is announced prior to holding elections but that too has not been done to deliberately keep suspense and for politics of horse-trading open, which is unfortunate and illegal, Patil alleged.
She said the legislation for Finance Commission, Election Commission and ombudsman for Panchayats was already made by the Congress coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir but the BJP “delayed the implementation of these provisions”.
Referring to the results of the DDC polls, she claimed that the BJP lost 25 percent vote share in just one year from the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which reflects the disenchantment of people with the BJP, which is wrongly claiming victory.
“Out of 20 districts, the BJP got majority in five districts only, which shows that its policies are not acceptable to the majority of the people in Jammu and Kashmir and it can’t come to power again in the future,” Patil added.
The eight-phased DDC elections were held in November-December last year. The polls were swept by the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) which won 110 seats, while the BJP emerged as the single largest party by getting 75 seats. The Congress won 26 of the total 280 seats.
