Ahead of the crucial first phase of the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the authorities said elaborate security and logistic arrangements have been put in place to ensure smooth conduct of the polls. The elections are being held in the backdrop of boycott calls from separatists groups, militants’ threats and unprecedented decision of two prominent mainstream political parties to stay away.
The security forces intensified vehicle checking, frisking of pedestrians and area domination in the Srinagar city and other poll-bound urban pockets in Kashmir Valley to avert any untoward incident or possible attacks by the militants. Several check points have been set up to check private and public transport vehicles. Sniffer dogs were also seen assisting the checking procedures.
The first phase of the polls is taking place on Monday. The elections to 2 municipal corporations, 3 municipal councils and 72 municipal committees in the state shall be covered in four phases from 8 to 16 October.
The polling will be held on 08, 10, 13 and 16 October respectively, while as the date of counting will be October 20. The polling hours will be from 7 am to 4 pm and the process of election will complete on 27 October.
In the first phase, the polls have been scheduled to be held in three wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation besides covering Municipal Committees of Kupwara, Handwara, Bandipora and Baramulla in north Kashmir; Municipal Committees of Budgam, Chadoora and Khan Sahib in central Kashmir and Kulgam, Devsar, Achabal, Kokernag and Qazigund in south Kashmir. In addition, the polls are scheduled for Municipal Committees of Kargil and Leh in the first phase.
The government has formulated unprecedented security plan for the smooth conduct of upcoming Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and Panchayat elections in the state. The plan covers safety and security of both contestants and the voters in most sensitive areas in Kashmir and elsewhere in the State.
Adequate arrangements for the security of the candidates, their personal security as well as the accommodation arrangements have been made. Area domination, checking and operations have been going on to ensure general sense of security. Additional 400 companies of central security forces would be deployed in the state over and above the security forces already stationed.
On Saturday, Governor Satya Pal Malik reviewed the security situation in the state ahead of the first phase of the municipal elections. The meeting was attended by top officials from Army, Police, CRPF, intelligence agencies and civil administration.
In an unprecedented move, the government employees deployed on election duty would be paid a month’s additional salary.
There are no prominent faces who are contesting in the municipal elections though several women candidates belonging to Congress and BJP are in the fray. Most of the candidates including women in Kashmir region are contesting as independents.
The two main regional political parties National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party have decided to boycott the elections as they have asked the Central Government to clear its stand on the issue of Article 35-A and take steps for its protection. The Communist Party of India (CPI) also decided against participating in the polls keeping in view the prevailing situation in the valley.
The State Congress after deferring the decision for sometime, of late announced its participation in the upcoming Panchayat and Municipal elections. The BJP and other Jammu based smaller parties are also participating in the upcoming elections.
Pertinently, more than a dozen Panchayat Ghars mostly in south Kashmir region besides in central and north Kashmir areas have come under attack following the announcement of Panchayat elections. Unknown persons have set ablaze the Panchayat Ghars and also attempted to set on fire some more Panchayat Ghars in these areas.
On Friday, unidentified militants shot dead two workers of National Conference while another activist was also injured in the attack at their residence in old Srinagar area. Petrol bomb attacks were also carried out by unknown persons at the residences of two independent candidates for ULB elections in the two different localities of old Srinagar city last week.
Separatist grouping, Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, has called for election boycott and shutdown on the first polling day. The militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen has also threatened action against the contestants and the participants in the ULB and Panchayat elections. Yasin Malik was detained and lodged in local jail several days ago while Geelani and Mirwaiz are held under house-arrest.