Low turnout, peaceful voting mark 2nd phase

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: The second phase of municipal elections in Kashmir witnessed 3.4 % voting on Wednesday lesser than what was polled in the first phase on Monday, although, like the first phase, the elections, the first in 13 years for local bodies, passed off without incident.

The overall percentage across the state in 23 municipal bodies was 31.3% with Jammu division recording 78.6%, said chief electoral officer Shaleen Kabra.

Of the 218,876 eligible voters in the five municipal bodies of Kashmir, not more than 7,441 voted in the elections on Wednesday, amidst a shutdown in pollbound areas and a boycott called by separatists and militants.

Except Bandipora where some 35.6% of 7,910 voters cast their ballots, the four other municipal bodies in Anantnag, Srinagar, Kupwara and Baramulla recorded a single digit poll percentage (of 1.1,2.3,5.3 and 7.03 % respectively).

On Monday, only 8.2% votes were cast in the Kashmir region in the first phase while overall turnout in the state was 56.7%.

“I have come out to vote because the candidate I am voting is a close acquaintance and is without a proper work. There are five girls in the candidate’s family. So I wanted to help,” said a voter in a polling booth of Munawarabad in Srinagar.

Professor Muhammad Tajjudin, former head of political sciences department at University of Jammu said the difference in the voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir regions was because of the terror threat and the decision of the state’s two main parties — the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to boycott the local body polls.

“Besides the terror threat, the boycott by NC and PDP has also cast a shadow on polls in Kashmir. They, too, cannot escape the blame for low turnout in Kashmir,” he said.

In the poll-bound areas, shops and businesses remained closed. “Both phases of elections were peaceful. The cooperation from people was also great,” said state director general of police (DGP), Dilbag Singh.