Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to contest 280 out of 316BDC seats in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, elections of which are to be held on24th of October and the last date of filing the nominations is 9th of October,disclosed BJP State President Ravinder Raina.

Addressing the media persons at party headquarter, TrikutaNagar, Ravinder Raina accompanied by MP (Lok Sabha) Jugal Kishore Sharma andformer Dy. CM Kavinder Gupta released the list of candidates for the upcomingBlock Development Committee election.

Addressing the media, Ravinder Raina extended his gratitudeto Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President & Union HomeMinister Amit Shah for fulfilling the commitment by empowering the PanchayatiRaj system in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

Raina, said that with the elections of BDC seats in Jammu,Kashmir and Ladakh; Panchayati Raj system has become powerful and now theelected representatives will get more powers to do justice with common massesin the rural areas.

Raina, said that the successive Congress, NC, PDPgovernments in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh kept the Panchs and Sarpanchs as theirslaves by not empowering them and the all the credit goes to PM Modi and UnionMinister Shah for doing justice with Panchs and Sarpanchs of Jammu, Kashmir andLadakh. He said that holding BDC election and then DDC is a landmark decisionin the history of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

Raina, further said that to finalize the candidates of 280BDC seats, senior leaders alongwith District Presidents and Block Presidents ofBJP worked hard to prepare the panels for various BDC seats in Jammu, Kashmirand Ladakh. He said that on some of the seats out of 280 seats where BJP willcontest, some of the candidates are yet to be finalized and those seats arekept pending and the decision will be made in next 2 to 3 days. For majority ofBDC seats in Jammu region, candidates are already finalized and candidates forKashmir valley and Ladakh region will be announced by the respective DistrictPresidents of BJP, Raina said.

Raina, said that it was very difficult to finalize thecandidates as majority of Panchs and Sarpanchs belonged to BJP and there weremore than 5-6 aspirants for every seat giving very tough competition. Herequested Panchs and Sarpanchs, especially to all those who were in the panelfor BDC seats but not got mandate, to vote in favour of BJP candidates, so thatthe development of their respective areas will be done with all sincerity andtransparency.