Discuss the significance of extending the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts to Jammu & Kashmir post-abrogation of Article 370.

Q. Discuss the significance of extending the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts to Jammu & Kashmir post-abrogation of Article 370. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

The 73rd Amendment inserted Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule, mandating a three-tier elected rural structure with 29 devolvable subjects [3]; its companion 74th Amendment did the same for municipalities. Under Article 370, J&K's local bodies stood outside this framework. Their extension after 2019 marks the region's shift from special-status exceptionalism to constitutional uniformity in grassroots governance.

Constitutional integration - The J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 reorganised the state into two Union Territories and applied 106 central laws to them, creating the legal bridge for central constitutional standards [2]. - Local self-government in J&K now derives from the same Part IX/IX-A guarantees as the rest of India, rather than from a separate state dispensation.

Deepening democratic decentralisation - A complete three-tier rural chain — Panchayat, Block Development Council and District Development Council — was operationalised, with the first direct DDC elections held in 2021. - Elected district councils give citizens a directly accountable planning tier, a channel for democratic participation in a region long dominated by centralised and security-driven administration.

Social inclusion and electoral integrity - The J&K Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Act, 2024 extended reservation to Other Backward Classes in panchayats, municipalities, municipal corporations, BDCs and DDCs, proportional to population [1]. - It also insulated the State Election Commissioner, allowing removal only in the manner and on the grounds applicable to a High Court judge — a safeguard for free local polls [1].

Persisting challenges - Functional and fiscal devolution lags behind structural creation; councils depend heavily on the Lieutenant Governor's administration. - Asymmetry remains: Ladakh continues under the Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1995, outside the DDC design [4]. - The framework's promise rests on elections being held regularly on term expiry; delay hollows out the mandate.

The extension is significant less as an administrative rearrangement than as a constitutional commitment to representative local government. Its worth will be judged by timely elections, genuine transfer of the Eleventh Schedule subjects, and adequate untied funds — converting formal structures into real self-government consistent with the spirit of Part IX.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. The Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill/Act, 2024 — PRS Legislative Research — OBC reservation in panchayats, municipalities, BDCs and DDCs; State Election Commissioner removal safeguards 2. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 — PRS Legislative Research — reorganisation into two Union Territories; 106 central laws extended 3. 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 — Ministry of Panchayati Raj — Part IX, three-tier panchayat structure, Eleventh Schedule's 29 subjects 4. The Jammu and Kashmir Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1995 — PRS Legislative Research — separate Hill Council model applicable to Ladakh