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| Jammu, Ladakh defy threats, boycott calls; register high voter turn out | | Isolated incidents of violence in Kashmir | |  Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 8: Despite terror threats and boycott call by separatists besides the mainstream National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, the Jammu and Ladakh regions recorded a high voter turnout in the first of the four-phase urban local bodies polls.
Rajouri district with 59 local bodies recorded 81 percent voter turnout-the highest in the state, followed by Kargil in Ladakh region at 78.2, Poonch at 73.1 and Jammu at 63.83 percent. In contrast, the average percentage in the Kashmir Valley was only 8.3 percent. Jammu deputy commissioner Ramesh Kumar said the elections were peacefully conducted in 153 wards of the district, which has the Jammu Municipal Corporation and seven other municipal bodies, and saw a high turnout. "There were a total of 154 municipal wards but in ward number 6 in the border town of Arnia, a candidate was elected uncontested and hence 153 municipal wards went to polls on Monday," he said.
A total of 584 polling stations were set up and the polling was conducted under tight security arrangements, he added.
The 75 wards of Jammu Municipal Corporation saw 447 candidates in the fray - 75 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 74 from Congress, 23 from the Panthers Party and 274 independents.
Counting of votes will take place at government polytechnic college on October 20 and the results will be announced on the same day, he said.
In Kashmir Valley, Bandipore recorded the lowest turnout at 3.3 per cent and Kupwara the highest at 36.6 per cent.
With no election rallies taking place before the first-phase polling in 58 wards in Kashmir Valley, the fear of militant groups was evident as many of the booths wore a deserted look and at certain places people tried to hide themselves from the assembled mediapersons.
In the election to 238 wards in Jammu division, the turnout was recorded at 65 per cent. In Ladakh division's Leh and Kargil districts, 55.2 and 78.1 per cent of the electorate respectively cast their votes till 4 PM, when the voting ended. Polling began at 7 AM. Militant groups such as Hizbul Mujahideen had threatened to "throw acid" at candidates and asked people to remain indoors and not cast their ballots. Streets in Kashmir Valley wore deserted look and shops and business establishments were shut.
Two National Conference workers were gunned down last week, barely two days before elections.
However, there was no poll-related violence reported in any part of the Valley barring a small incident in which a BJP candidate was caught in a minor stone-pelting incident.
"Only 7,057 voters of the 84,692 eligible persons turned up to vote in the wards which went to polls (in Kashmir Valley) on Monday. The polling was by and large peaceful," one of the officials said.
The polls to urban local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in four phases. In North Kashmir, Kupwara Municipal Committee recorded a high voter turnout of 36.6 per cent, while 27.8 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise at wards of Handwara Municipal Committee. Out of the 30,074 voters in three wards of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, 1,862 turned up at heavily-fortified polling stations.
Budgam recorded a turnout of 17 per cent, Anantnag 7.3 per cent, Baramulla 5.7 per cent and Bandipora 3.3 per cent, the officials said. Of the 150 polling stations in Kashmir division, 138 polling stations were categorised as "hypersensitive". The polls were announced last month but two major political parties -- the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) -- boycotted the elections accusing the Centre of not taking a firm stand on the protection of Article 35A of the Constitution which is facing a legal challenge in the Supreme Court. Article 35A accords special rights to permanent citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. Militant groups had issued threats to anyone participating in these polls, prompting candidates to stay away from campaigning and not hold rallies. In several wards, especially those in south Kashmir, no candidate filed nomination papers for the polls. For ensuring security of candidates, they were moved to safe locations and their details were not made public.
The election authorities also kept the identities of the contesting candidates from the valley secret due to security reasons, prompting the people to term these polls as "secret elections". |
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