Prime Minister Narendra Modi today congratulated winning candidates from Block Development Council (BDC) polls held in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, declaring that the election marked the "dawn of a new and youthful leadership". The Prime Minister, who called the polling in Jammu, Kashmir, Leh and Ladakh "very peaceful", said the elections were evidence of the people's faith in democracy. In a series of messages posted on his official twitter account, PM Modi also credited the"historic decision in August" for allowing the people of Jammu and Kashmir to "exercise their democratic right".

"I am delighted to share that the BDC polls in Jammu,Kashmir, Leh and Ladakh were conducted in a very peaceful manner. There was no violence. This shows the people's unwavering faith in democracy and theimportance they accord to grassroots level governance," PM Modi wrote.

"It would make India's Parliament proud that due totheir historic decision in August this year, the people of J&K have beenable to exercise their democratic right," the Prime Minister said, addingthat he "congratulated the victorious candidates".

The elections, the first in Jammu and Kashmir's history, saw1,065 candidates contest 310 blocks but were boycotted by the Congress, theNational Conference (NC), the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the CPI(M) as protest over the "indifferent attitude" of the state administrationand continued detention of its leaders in Kashmir.

Around 400 political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir were placed under detention or house arrest as part of the state-wide lockdown toprevent any backlash over the centre's August 5 move to end special status and bifurcation Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. Although Jammuleaders were released after BDC election announcements last month, there isstill no word on the release of those in Kashmir, including former ChiefMinisters Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Peoples' Democratic Partychief Mehbooba Mufti.

Results declare by Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumaron Thursday revealed that independent candidates had won 217 candidatesfollowed by the BJP with 81.