The successful accomplishment of these elections will lead to constitution of Panchayats, long envisaged as the way to empower people at the grass root level, raising the expectations and aspirations of 12.5 million people in the state. The Panchayats execute range of developmental works, including agricultural support, minor irrigation, street paving, building of culverts and repairing schools. The state government is expected to receive central assistance of about Rs 20 billion under various schemes for rural development during the 13th Finance Commission period. Chief Minister Abdullah noted, “Now, we are expecting Rs 4-5 Billion annual grant from the central government under the 13th Finance Commission Award, which shall be spent by the Panchayats throughout the State.” Abdullah recognized, further that the state had suffered a loss of at least Rs 12 Billion as central assistance during the 12th Finance Commission due its failure to establish elected Panchayats. The money that will be given directly by New Delhi to Kashmiri villages has revolutionary developmental potential in a State where corruption and patronage have long ruled.
The Centre has made it clear to the Abdullah government that it must immediately act on transferring power to the newly elected Panchayats and fulfil its promise of devolution of power. The Centre is particularly concerned that if the newly elected village representatives are not given the benefit of devolution, a strong anti-government backlash may emerge.
Unfortunately, there are already indications that the empowerment of the Panchayats would be resisted within the entrenched political establishment in the state. A concerned Chief Minister Abdullah thus commented, "The easy job of elections is behind us, now the tough bit..." He, however, disclosed that “a Committee of high ranking officers headed by the Chief Secretary is working out a transfer of functions, funds and functionaries to Panchayats”, and that the report of the Committee was in the last stage of formulation.
J&K is also looking to refurbish its Panchayat Raj Act, 1989. The state government is also contemplating elections for municipal corporations and committees in urban areas. In the 3-tier Panchayat system, the Vice Chairmen of district Development Boards will be elected representatives of Panchayats. "This will enable the Panchayats to be an important part in decision making at the district level,” said Abdullah. Notably, the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Indian Constitution, which guarantee a set of far-reaching powers to Panchayats across the country, are not applicable in the state due to its special constitutional status. Thus, the local Member of Legislative Assembly in J&K remains a very powerful arbiter of finances at the district and village level, which is not the case elsewhere in the country. These are elements that new legislation in the state would seek to address.
Despite the tremendous achievements of the Panchayat Election 2011, and the many declarations of intent thereafter, there is a multiplicity of reasons for no more than qualified optimism. These were the first largely peaceful and elections with high voter participation. In fact, the State Assembly and Parliamentary polls of 2008 and 2009 were largely peaceful as well as, and saw relatively high turnouts of 61.49 and 39 per cent, respectively (volumes comparable to participation in a number of other states unaffected by insurgent or terrorist violence). Unfortunately, this was no guarantee of improvements in the ground situation, of an end to divisive and disruptive politics, or of a consolidation of democratic forces in the state. High voter participation also resulted in higher voter expectations, and these were quickly belied as both the centre and the state government failed to initiate effective economic and political programmes to meet these aspirations. The resulting political vacuum created renewed spaces for the separatists, whose demands to boycott the polls had so recently been resoundingly ignored, to exploit create a volatile situation in the state, with stone pelting campaigns becoming the order of the day in the summers of 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Worse, the democratic leadership of the state, across party lines, has repeatedly undermined its own democratic legitimacy, and the authority of the electoral process. Thus, on June 22, 2011, Chief Minister Abdullah observed: