NINEPHASE PANCHAYAT POLLS IN J&K TO KICK OFF TODAY AMID HEAVY SECURITY
Voting to be held in six districts of Kashmir, two of Ladakh and seven districts in Jammu region
SRINAGAR/JAMMU: Amid heightened security, first phase of the panchayat elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
The polls will be held in nine phases from November 17 till December 11. State chief electoral officer Shaleen Khabra said the elections will be held to 316 blocks in 4,483 panchayat halqas comprising of 35,029 panch constituencies in which 58,54,208 voters will cast vote in nine phases.
As per officials, polling will be held in six districts of the Kashmir Valley, two in Ladakh and seven districts in the Jammu region.
In the first phase 1,886 candidates, including 713 in Kashmir and 1173 in Jammu, are in the fray for 536 sarpanch halqas. Similarly, 6,378 candidates, 2383 in Kashmir and 4380 in Jammu, will contest for 4,048 panch wards for first phase of the Panchayat polls.
The Panchayat elections are being held in the restive state after a gap of seven years.
The last polls were held in 2011 and the panchayats had completed their five-year term in 2016.
In Kashmir, polls will be held in panchayats, including Kupwara, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Budgam and Srinagar, Leh and Kargil districts, of Kashmir province.
However, no panchayat will go to polls in the districts of South Kashmir in first phase of polling.
In Jammu province , excluding Reasi, Samba and Jammu districts polling will be held in several panchayat blocks of all other districts in the first phase.
The elections for second phase will be held on November 20.
In the last polls held in 2011, 75% voter turnout was recorded to elect 4,000 sarpanchs and over 29,000 panchs.
In order to encourage people to participate in these polls, the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by governor Satya Pal Malik had recently decided that the sarpanchs will be paid monthly honorarium of ₹2,500 and panchs ₹1,000.
“The election process has started but the people are indifferent towards these polls. We don’t know even who is contesting,” said Bashir Ahmad a resident of Rohama in Rafiabad area of Baramulla.
He further added, “Even those candidates who filed nomination papers don’t dare to announce their candidature.”
“In last panchayat polls more than 70 percent villagers had voted. This time I don’t think the voting percentage will be impressive,” he said.
ARRANGEMENTS IN PLACE
All arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the polls and polling staff has been deputed to the respective polling stations.
Officials said that additional 40000 troopers have been deployed in different parts of the Valley.
In the last four years, as many as 16 sarpanchs and panchs have been killed.
The officials have been privately acknowledging that holding panchayat polls is tough than recently concluded urban local body elections, which remained almost violence free.
However, senior BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet Parihar were recently killed in Kishtwar town in Jammu, few days before the commencement of the panchayat polls.
Citing security concerns, candidates have been pressing their demands to increase their cover.
However, the government has already clarified that it was not possible to provide security to every contesting candidate, but efforts will be made to provide a secure environment for the overall polls.
The last polls were held in 2011 and the panchayats had completed their five-year term in 2016.
NC, PDP BOYCOTT POLLS
While polling will be conducted on the non-party basis, two major mainstream parties, National Conference and People’s Democratic Party, have already announced to stay away from the electoral exercise due to the legal challenge to Article 35-A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court.
They had also boycotted the municipal polls which were conducted last month.
While the separatists have asked people to observe a day long strike against these polls and announced their boycott, militants have threatened to target anyone taking part in these elections.
More than half a dozen panchayat houses were either damaged or set on fire soon after dates for the polls were announced by the government.