In four phases, state registers 35% voting

Tribune News Service
Srinagar/Jammu, October 16

The four-phase urban local bodies elections, which began on October 8 in the state, concluded on Tuesday. The counting of the votes will be held on October 20.

Although the overall polling percentage in the state has been recorded as 35.1 per cent, the Jammu region registered an encouraging 68.4 per cent voting in the 37 municipal committees.

Two committees of the Ladakh region, where the civic body elections were held for the first time, recorded 66.1 per cent polling.

The Kashmir valley, except north Kashmir, has seen a dismal voter participation amid fear and tension.

The civic body elections were held amid militant threats and the separatist boycott call. The two major regional political parties — National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party — did not take part in the elections.

Even as Uri in Baramulla district recorded the highest 75.3 per cent voter turnout and Sumbal in Bandipora saw 35.6 per cent voting, the polling percentage has dipped to below 10 per cent.

The lowest percentage of 1.14 was recorded in the Municipal Council, Anantnag, while most of south Kashmir also saw low voter turnout.

The trend was set in the first phase of the urban local bodies elections, when the Kashmir valley recorded 8.3 per cent polling against 65 per cent in Jammu division. The total polling percentage in the state in the first phase was 56.7 per cent.

In the second phase, the Valley recorded 3.4 per cent voting against Jammu’s 78.6 per cent, bringing down the total poll percentage to 31.3. In the third phase, only 3.5 per cent polling was recorded in the Kashmir valley against 81.4 per cent in Jammu, bringing down the polling percentage to 16.4.

In the fourth and last phase, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation recorded 4 per cent voting while Ganderbal recorded 11.3 per cent. The overall poll percentage in Srinagar and Ganderbal districts of the Valley was 4.2 per cent.

The trend of poor voter participation started during the byelections to the Lok Sabha constituency of Srinagar on April 9, 2017. The byelections saw only 7.09 per cent voting.

The civic polls were mainly impacted by the situation following the 2016 unrest triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in south Kashmir and the resentment over the Peoples Democratic Party’s ‘unholy alliance’ with the BJP.

In the Jammu region, there was no impact of the boycott call or terror threats. Even Muslim-majority areas of the Jammu province — Poonch, Rajouri, Doda and Kishtwar districts — witnessed unprecedented turnout. The civic bodies elections were held in 79 municipal bodies which had 17 lakh voters.