New Delhi, Jun 8 (PTI) Union minister Jitendra Singh on Monday condoled the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit sarpanch in Jammu and Kashmir and said it is a "desperate attempt" by anti-national elements to defeat the process of grassroots democracy in the Union Territory.

Ajay Pandit, sarpanch of the Larkipora area in Anantnag district and a member of the Congress, was shot dead by militants in his native village around 6 pm, a police official said.

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Singh, Minister of State for Personnel and the Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency, expressed anguish over the sarpanch's killing.

"It is a desperate attempt by anti-national elements to defeat the process of grassroots democracy, which is sought to be established in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)