71% Polling in Fourth Phase of Panchayat Polls in J&K

Amid tight security, strike, encounter and attacks on panchayat houses, panchayat elections entered the fourth phase in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.

Polling for the fourth phase took place at 2,618 polling stations across J&K, including 639 in Kashmir division and 1,979 in Jammu division.

Taking the situation of J&K into consideration, 777 polling stations were categorised as hypersensitive in this phase, -- 571 in the Kashmir division and 206 in the Jammu division.

As per the Chief Electoral Officer Shaleen Kabra, 5,470 candidates were contesting for 339 sarpanch posts and 1,749 panch seats in this phase, while 99 sarpanch and 969 panch have already been elected unopposed.

The overall turnout in J&K was recorded 71.%.

The highest turnout was recorded in Jammu division at 82.4%, with 84.6% voters turning out in Doda. Polling was held in Ramban, Udhampur, Kathua, Rajouri, Poocnch and Kishtwar districts.

In Kashmir, the lowest turnout was recorded in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district at 0.6% and the highest was recorded 62.4% in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. The overall turnout in Kashmir was recorded 32.3%.

The two main parties, People’s Democratic Party and National Conference are boycotting the polls.

 Attacks a Day Before Phase IV

Ahead of the election, on Monday, unidentified persons hurled a grenade at the house of a newly elected panch (village head) in Tral village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Official sources said that grenade was hurled at the house of Abdul Rashid Bhat, who was elected unopposed as panch.

The grenade exploded without causing any damage, however, panic gripped the entire village.

In phase IV, polling in Pulwama took place in two blocks which have 40 panchayat halaqas, 316 panch wards in two blocks, out of which 11 sarpanch and nine panch have been elected unopposed. Only one sarpanch seat is going for polling, in which two candidates were contesting. There was no polling for panch seat.

In another mysterious attack, unknown persons set ablaze the panchayat house at Awantipora, an area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. 

As per reports, a panchayat house was set on fire in Goripora, Awantipora on Monday evening. This is the second such incident in south Kashmir.

 Why Such Attacks?

These attacks could probably be due to the recent incidents in Shopian, which left 17 dead and more than 50 civilians injured.

While talking to residents in Shopian, a sense of discontentment with the present administration was evident.

One of the residents, who wished to be represented with the first letter “A” of his name due to the threat of getting detained, told NewsClick “the government in Kashmir doesn’t care about the people. We are being treated like animals and innocent people have been killed, tortured and blinded by the long-standing conflict in Valley.”  

The elections in Kashmir are not being monitored properly. In many cases voters are being paid to cast their vote to elect a person of a particular party, he added.

Referring to the recent killings of civilians and pellet injuries on Hiba, a baby girl, ‘A’ said, “Killing a civilian who holds a stone in hand doesn’t make anyone brave, blinding an 18-month-old girl is really absurd”, adding that “No one from the government ever came forward to analyse why people are angry with the government. Instead, they keep killing us.”

A voter who cast her vote in Pulwama block, wishing anonymity due to the threat of being attacked, told Newsclick that despite a great deal of risk, she came to cast her vote to elect the ‘right’ person. She said there was a lot of fraudulence going on in the election process, which is why she felt it was better to cast her vote lest it was used by ‘paid agents’.

The threat due to the attacks and the boycott call by Joint Resistance Leadership, comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, had a big impact on the polling percentage, especially in south Kashmir.

Phase-I of the panchayat polls held on November 17, 2018, a total of 74.1% polling was recorded across J&K, including 64.5% in Kashmir division and 79.4% in Jammu division.

In phase-II, held on November 20, 2018, overall 71.1% polling was witnessed across J&K, with 80.4% polling in Jammu division and 52.2% in Kashmir division.

In phase-III, the state recorded a polling percentage of 75.2%, which includes 55.7% in the Kashmir division and 83.0% in the Jammu division.