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| Internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus living in Jammu to rule Shopian | | Civic polls | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 5: No one had ever thought that internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus living in Jammu since their forced exodus in January 1990 would rule Shopian, hotbed of terrorism and separatism, but it has happened and a new history has been created. 13 candidates of the BJP have won unopposed in the municipal council election in Shopian, South Kashmir, giving the party control of the municipal corporation.
The terrorist and separatist-infested Shopian district has witnessed several encounters between security forces and terrorists in the recent past. All the terror groups active in the area earlier had warned people to stay away from the elections failing which action would be taken against them.
Notwithstanding these threats, the BJP fielded as many as 13 candidates in different wards for the elections of the municipal body. The Shopian municipal council has 17 wards. There was no opposition candidate in all the 13 wards the BJP won. As per reports from Kashmir, "11 out of 13 victors are Kashmiri Hindus". Sources close to Kashmiri Hindus say that "all the 11 Hindu winners are internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus" and "they are residing in Jammu".
"We had only one nomination each for 13 wards while no nominations were received for four other wards of the Municipal Committee, Shopian," an election official in Kashmir was quoted as saying. The election department has kept the name of winning candidates a secret to ensure their safety.
Pro-self-rule and votary of India-Pakistan joint control over J&K People's Democratic Party (PDP) and pro-greater autonomy National Conference (NC) - two major parties of Kashmir - had boycotted the elections on the issue of the legal challenge to Article 35-A of the constitution in the Supreme Court.
The local body election in Jammu & Kashmir will be conducted in four phases. First phase of the election will be held on 8 October, second phase on 10 October, third phase on 13 October and final and fourth phase will be on 16 October. Counting would take place on October 20 and the entire election process will be completed by October 27. |
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