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SRINAGAR/JAMMU: Congress on Wednesday conceded that BJP was set for "a clean sweep" in J&K’s first-ever Block Development Council (BDC) polls after its sudden about-turn on participating in the elections, for which it blamed the continued detention of mainstream political leaders and the rejection of a proposal to postpone polling till the situation was "conducive to free and fair voting".

J&K Congress chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir alleged that the October 24 elections were being "rigged" to ensure a BJP victory in what is now a one-sided contest with the Jammu-based National Panthers Party (NPP) in 280 out of 310 seats. NPP is expected to be a factor only in Udhampur.

"We had written to the Election Commission on September 5 regarding the prevailing situation. We requested the release of our leaders under house arrest and asked for the polls to be deferred by two to three months, but our demand was not considered," Mir said. "The situation in J&K is far from conducive to free and fair voting, which is why we finally decided to boycott the BDC elections."

Farooq Abdullah's NC and Mehbooba Mufti 's PDP are automatically out of the fray because both had boycotted the panchayat elections last winter. The BDC elections are limited to a field of 26,629 elected panchs and sarpanchs both in terms of contestants and voter base.

Chief electoral officer Shailendra Kumar said polling in 310 out of the 316 blocks would be held on October 24 between 9am and 1pm. The results will be declared the same day. Elections to four other seats reserved for women won't be held as there are no candidates. Ditto for two other blocks that do not have panchayat representatives.

Sources said there was little chance of the EC accepting any request to postpone the BDC polls because the exercise needs to be completed before J&K formally becomes a Union Territory on October 31, as decided by Parliament after the Centre moved a bill in Parliament on August 5 to nullify articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution. The polls are also meant to take forward the process of full devolution of powers to rural and urban bodies in J&K.

Kumar said 12,766 posts of panchs and sarpanchs across J&K were still vacant because of various reasons, including resignations and deaths. In the Kashmir division, only 7528 panchs and sarpanchs elected last year will get to vote in the BDC polls. Jammu division accounts for more than twice that number of voters.

J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina said his party would steamroll the opposition. "We have finalised our list of candidates. This will be a clean sweep for BJP."

BJP intends to support independent candidates in some seats.

