Panchayat polls to be held in 9 phases in Jammu & Kashmir

Panchayat elections would be held in Jammu and Kashmir in nine phases in November and December, chief electoral officer Shaleen Kabra announced on Sunday. The announcement came a day after the schedule for multi-phased municipal polls from October 8 to October 20 was announced.

The local bodies’ polls are being held in the state amid a spike in violence.

The announcement for the civic election schedule coincided with the killing of a civilian in clashes following a gunfight between militants and security forces in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district. Five militants were also killed in the gunfight.

The rural polls will be held on non-party basis, unlike the municipal polls, Kabra said. He added the polling will begin at 8 am and continue until 2 pm. Kabra said the counting will start immediately after the polls end. “An important aspect, which has been kept in view, is that the number of electorate in each polling station has been kept small,” Kabra said. The panchayat polls in the worst militant violence-hit South Kashmir districts will be held on November 24.

As many as 16 sarpanches (panchayat heads) and panches (rural bodies’ members) have been killed over the last four years. A record 75% voter turnout was recorded when panchayat polls were last held in 2011.

The state government has deputed over 15,000 additional paramilitary forces to conduct the polls. The elections are being held even as the state’s two main parties, the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced their poll boycott over the attempts to undo the state’s special constitutional status.

A bunch of petitions challenging the validity of the Constitution’s Article 35A, which prevents outsiders from buying property in Jammu and Kashmir, is pending before the Supreme Court. The case was last month adjourned to January 2019 after the government argued that it could have an impact on the law and order situation ahead of the local polls. The Congress on Sunday said it would take a final call on Monday at a meeting of its senior leaders whether to contest the polls. State Congress chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir said his party had earlier expressed reservations as there was no clarity on the election schedule. “Now that the schedule has been announced and the confusion cleared, we will take a view on our participation,” Mir added.

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