Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Srinagar, Feb 16: With the election body’s announcement on holding Panchayat elections in the vacant seats of Jammu and Kashmir, three main political parties, National Conference Congress and People’s Democratic Party is unlikely to contest polls.
While Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has decided to field candidates in all seats.J&K Chief Electoral officer Shailendra Kumar made the announcement on Thursday and declared the dates for Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir.He also said elections will be contested on party basis.
Close to 60 per cent of the total Panchayat seats in Kashmir remained vacant even after the last Panchayat elections due to lack of participation in the electoral process. “There is no reach for us to reach places in Kashmir where these polls are being held. No security is being provided then how can we contest polls,” one of the Congress leader said.
One of the National Conference leaders also said that they won’t contest upcoming Panchayat polls.“Our leaders are behind bars. How can we contest these polls,” he asked.One of the senior PDP leaders said that they have not taken any decision yet.BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur said that they will field candidates in all seats. “We are hopeful of winning all these seats,” Thakur said.
The Panchayat elections will be held in eight phases in March.Hundreds of politicians including the Abdullahs and Mehbooba Mufti were detained or arrested in August as part of the centre’s massive clampdown after its decision to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the constitution and split it into two union territories.
The Panchayat elections were conducted in November-December 2018 for 4483 Panchayats with a Sarpanch for each Panchayat Halqa and 35029 Panches in Jammu and Kashmir.In Kashmir out of 20093 Panch and Sarpanch seats, only 6162 Panches and 1366 Sarpanches were elected in the polls while 12565 constituencies have remained vacant.
In Jammu, 15800 Panches and 2289 Sarpanches were elected where 166 seats have remained vacant. While in Ladakh, 45 seats are vacant where 1414 Panches and 192 Sarpanches were elected.National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party boycotted the polls.Elections for Block Development Council were also conducted in Jammu and Kashmir.
