Kashmir snubs urban body polls, records 8.2% voting
PEACEFUL In Valley, Kargil records highest turnout of 78%; lowest at Bandipore
KUPWARA/SRINAGAR : Amid boycott calls, Ladakh and Jammu voted briskly while Kashmir showed tepid response to local body polls held after 13 years in the state.
Polling in 83 wards of the Valley began at 7am and ended at 4 pm amid tight security. Just 8.2% of the electorate voted in the first-phase of the urban local body polls and Kargil recorded the highest turnout of 78%, an official said on Monday.
Under tight security, polling was held in Baramulla, Kupwara, Handwara, Bandipore municipal councils and committees in north Kashmir, three wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation and Kokernag municipal committee. Voting was also held in one ward of Budgam municipal committee.
In north Kashmir, Kupwara and Handwara polling stations witnessed polling, however, the effect of the boycott call was visible in Baramulla, Bandipore and Srinagar.
Almost all the polling stations in Baramulla presented a deserted look. As per officials, only 1,339 voters of a total 26,149 registered voters cast their votes in Baramulla.
“Nobody came to vote here in the first half of the day as we have been waiting for the voters,” said an official at polling both of ward number 12 which was housed in a government school at Janbazpora.
Even locals outside polling stations seemed indifferent towards the elections. “I don’t know where polling is being held and who the candidate is. People have no interest towards these polls,” said Ghulam Mohammad, a former mollah president of Azad Ganj, which is designated as ward 12.
In neighbouring Handwara, tight security was placed around the town for polling.
“It’s very difficult to convince voters to come out from their homes and vote,” said Imran Rashid, an independent candidate from ward 3 in Handwara, who was making calls to his relatives pleading them to come and vote for him. “My contest is with PC and BJP candidates, who have backing of political parties,’’ he said.
At ward 12, when polling closed, 101 voters out of 504 had exercised their franchise. Former minister Sajjad Lone, who is a legislator from Handwara, cast his vote on Monday morning. Later, he told mediapersons, “People’s Conference boycotted the elections for 25 years. Let NC and the PDP boycott elections the way my party did and vacate assembly and parliament seats and surrender official accommodations.”
At Kupwara, the voters in ones and twos were seen heading towards polling station. “I voted for a candidate who will help us resolve our issues. This is a local election and has nothing to do with politics,” said a voter while coming out from the polling station at a primary school building in the main town. Kupwara district witnessed highest 32.3% in the Valley.
In South Kashmir’s Kokernag, where voting was held for four wards only, 119 people cast their votes out of 1,600 registered electorate.
Srinagar also witnessed a lukewarm response towards the elections as 6.2% voters cast their votes in three wards of the SMC when polling ended.
Two mainstream political parties, National Conference and the PDP, stayed away from the polling blaming state and Centre for linking elections with Article 35A. Separatists Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) had also asked people to boycott these polls.
The silver lining, however, was that polling in the Valley remained mostly free of violence during the first phase of the polls on Monday.