"The election exercise will be futile unless depressed class of society - Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes - and also women folk are not represented at the block and district levels in Panchayat Raj system in Jammu and Kashmir," Azad said last night.
While appreciating panchayat elections held in the state in a "peaceful" atmosphere and huge participation of the people, Azad said, "These (BDC) elections, however, would be meaningless and unfortunate unless there is reservation in Panchayat Raj system."
In a notification on October 10, the Jammu and Kashmir government had announced block level elections in the state on November 7.
A total of 29,402 panches and 4,089 sarpanches in the state would elect 143 BDC members including 77 for Kashmir Valley and 66 for Jammu region.
