WhatsApp Channel Join Now
Telegram Group Join Now
| Relevance: General Studies Paper II — Devolution of powers and finances up to local levels, and the challenges therein | Source: Greater Kashmir, 2026 |
| The District Development Councils (DDCs) of Jammu & Kashmir finished their five-year term on 24 February 2026. No fresh election has been announced. Since the panchayats, the block bodies and the town bodies had already lapsed earlier, the Union Territory is now left with no elected local body at any level. Two questions follow. Was the DDC the institution the Constitution actually asked for, and can such a long gap in elections be defended. |
1 · Background and the core idea
| District Planning Committee (DPC), under Article 243ZD, is the body the Constitution designed for the district. Village panchayats and municipalities prepare their own plans. The DPC collects those plans and joins them into one district plan. It coordinates from below. It does not rule from above. |
- Why the DDC was created: after 2019, the stated aim was to bring J&K fully under the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, which make local elections regular and give local bodies real powers.
- How it was created: not by an ordinary law passed in a legislature. The Union Home Ministry amended the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 through an executive order, using powers under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019.
- Size: 14 directly elected members in each district. With 20 districts, that is 280 members in all.
- Why polls are delayed: the administration cites ward delimitation and the reservation exercise for Other Backward Classes (OBC). A new State Election Commissioner took charge on 21 February 2026.
2 · How every tier fell silent, one by one
| Urban Local Bodies | Term ended October–November 2023. Includes the Srinagar and Jammu municipal corporations. |
| Panchayats and BDCs | Term ended 9 January 2024. The village tier and the block tier both went vacant. |
| District Development Councils | Term ended 24 February 2026. This was the last elected tier still standing. |
| 0 | Elected local bodies working in Jammu & Kashmir today. Day-to-day charge rests with officials. |
3 · Core analysis
A. The DDC plans from above, the DPC plans from below
- Direction of power: a DPC gathers plans sent up by the panchayats and towns. The DDC sits above them, holds executive functions, and runs its own fund line.
- A parallel body: critics say the DDC competes with the district panchayat idea instead of strengthening it, and that a proper DPC under Article 243ZD was never set up.
- The fair counterpoint: before 2020, district planning in J&K was handled by nominated District Planning and Development Boards. The DDC replaced nomination with direct election, and turnout crossed 50 per cent in most districts. Measured against what came before, participation widened. Measured against the constitutional design, it fell short.
B. Unequal political weight
- Flat seat formula: every district gets 14 members, whatever its population. Srinagar has about 12.4 lakh people. Kishtwar has about 2.3 lakh. Both elect 14.
- Why this matters: a single vote in a small district then carries far more weight than a vote in a large one. That runs against the equality principle in Article 14 and against Article 243C, which asks for a broadly even ratio between population and seats.
C. The vacancy is the deeper problem
- Article 243E(3): the election to form a new panchayat must be finished before the old one’s term runs out. Article 243U(3) says the same for municipalities. A long gap is therefore not a small procedural delay.
- Whose duty: Article 243K and Article 243ZA place the conduct of these elections with the State Election Commission, not with the executive of the day.
- Pressure from a new direction: with the Assembly restored in 2024, some legislators see a strong district tier as a rival centre of power. The third tier is now squeezed from above by the Union earlier, and by the state tier now.
4 · Way forward
| Hold the elections on a fixed calendar. Delimitation and reservation work should run to a published deadline, so that polls finish before terms lapse, as Article 243E(3) requires. |
| Set up a real District Planning Committee. Bring back bottom-up planning under Article 243ZD, with most members drawn from elected panchayat and municipal representatives. |
| Correct the seat formula. Link council strength to population, so that a voter in Srinagar and a voter in Kishtwar carry comparable weight. |
| Give the tier money, not only a mandate. Run the State Finance Commission cycle under Article 243-I and release untied grants. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission made the same point about local government across India: funds, functions and functionaries must move together. |
| The DDC gave Jammu & Kashmir its first directly elected district body. It did not give it the body the Constitution designed. The lesson is not limited to one Union Territory. Local democracy rests on two supports, timely elections and untied funds. Take away either, and the third tier survives only on paper. |
| UPSC Value Box | ||||||||||||||||
|
| Mains Practice Question |
| Creating an elected district body is not the same as achieving democratic decentralisation. Examine this statement with reference to the District Development Council experiment in Jammu & Kashmir. (15 marks · 250 words) |
Structure hint:
Introduction — open with the lapse of 24 February 2026 and the resulting absence of every elected tier
Body Part 1 — what the Constitution designed: Article 243ZD, planning from below, State Finance Commission
Body Part 2 — what J&K built: executive-order origin, parallel authority, flat 14-seat allocation
Body Part 3 — the honest counterpoint: election replaced nomination, turnout above 50 per cent
Way Forward — fixed poll calendar, a working DPC, population-linked seats, untied funds
Introduction — open with the lapse of 24 February 2026 and the resulting absence of every elected tier
Body Part 1 — what the Constitution designed: Article 243ZD, planning from below, State Finance Commission
Body Part 2 — what J&K built: executive-order origin, parallel authority, flat 14-seat allocation
Body Part 3 — the honest counterpoint: election replaced nomination, turnout above 50 per cent
Way Forward — fixed poll calendar, a working DPC, population-linked seats, untied funds
Must mention:
Article 243ZD ·
Article 243E(3) ·
Article 243-I ·
J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 ·
Second Administrative Reforms Commission ·
Subsidiarity
Article 243ZD ·
Article 243E(3) ·
Article 243-I ·
J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 ·
Second Administrative Reforms Commission ·
Subsidiarity
Conclusion hint: close on the test that matters, namely funds, functions and functionaries, rather than the mere existence of a council.
Start Yours at Ajmal IAS – with Mentorship StrategyDisciplineClarityResults that Drives Success
Your dream deserves this moment — begin it here.