State sees 71.1% polling in Phase II of panchayat elections

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 20

Defying the poll boycott call and terror threats, over 71 per cent voters on Tuesday turned up to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the panchayat elections in 14 districts of the state.

As many as 4.5 lakh voters turned up to exercise their franchise for the posts of sarpanch, while more than 2.70 lakh voted for the posts of panch.

The overall voting percentage saw an upward trend in Jammu division, where more than 80 per cent polling was recorded at 1,351 stations established in seven districts. It declined slightly in Kashmir division and stood at 52.2 per cent. In the first phase, Jammu division recorded 79.4 per cent turnout and Kashmir division witnessed 64.5 per cent voting. Ladakh had witnessed 64.4 per cent voting.

“The overall poll percentage in the second phase of the panchayat elections stood at 71.1 per cent in the state. Jammu division recorded 80.4 per cent polling, while it was 52.2 per cent in Kashmir division,” said Shaleen Kabra, chief electoral officer, J&K.

Kabra said the polling went off peacefully and remained incident-free in all 14 districts.

The polling in the Kashmir valley was held amid a shutdown call by the separatists, while the two mainstream political parties — National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party — had also decided to stay away even though the elections are being held on a non-party basis.

The electorate in three blocks of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district turned up in high numbers, where 69.7 per cent voting was recorded. Bandipora district, also in north Kashmir, also reported a high turnout with 66.3 per cent voting.

However, voters in two blocks of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district virtually gave no response to the elections as only 1 per cent of them turned up at 58 polling stations. Similarly, north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, which had recorded 69.1 per cent polling in the first phase, saw only 11.2 per cent voting.

In the Jammu region, Udhampur district led with 83.9 per cent polling followed by Rajouri (83.5 per cent), Poonch (81.7 per cent), Doda (81.7 per cent), Kathua (78.7 per cent), Kishtwar (77.8 per cent) and Ramban (72.3 per cent).

There were 4,014 candidates in the fray for 281 sarpanch and 1,286 panch seats in 40 blocks in the state. A total of 2,179 polling stations were set up in 14 districts.