The Bharatiya Janata Party supports granting women more than 33% reservation at the panchayat level in Jammu and Kashmir, the party’s Mahila Morcha chief Vijaya Rahatkar said on Tuesday. She said that the BJP is the only party in the country to give women their “due share”, reported PTI.
“We have the highest number of women members in parliament and civic bodies,” she said. “We have 33% reservation for women in panchayat polls here but we will try to give more than that as we are doing across the country.” States like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh allow 50% reservation for women in panchayats.
Rahatkar is currently on a two-day visit to the state and interacted with women beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in Jammu’s Gangyal area on Monday.
Jammu and Kashmir will hold its first local body elections since 2011 from October 1. Elections for municipal bodies will take place in four phases between October 1 and October 5, and panchayats will vote in eight phases between November 8 and December 4.
On Monday, the Peoples Democratic Party announced that it will not contest the local body elections, in the wake of the Centre’s clarifies its legal position on Article 35A of the Constitution. The Article grants special rights and privileges to residents of Jammu and Kashmir. Last week, the National Conference had also ruled out its participation in the polls.
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