Abstract
Local governments and governance has gained significant importance across the world in the last few decades, as democratic countries want to ensure better service delivery, transparency, accountability and public participation at the local level. In India too, the local government have gained important role in the matters of governance and service delivery at the local level. This paper examines the urban-local governments in Jammu and Kashmir since their origin in the year 2000 and looks into the elections and workings of these bodies. This paper also looks at the public participation and effectiveness of these bodies when it comes to governance and service delivery. The paper mainly draws from fieldwork interviews, examination of electoral exercises to these bodies, and critical analysis of government policies pertaining to local governments in J&K.
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