Ahead of the Jammu & Kashmir panchayat elections to be held in nine phases from Saturday, the security forces have stepped up their operations. During the 30 days since the culmination of the election to the urban local bodies on October 16, the forces killed 35 militants, especially in the volatile south Kashmir.
According to police data, security agencies stepped up their operations against militants “to dent their striking capabilities in the run-up to the elections and blunt any bid to intimidate contestants”.
The figures suggested that two to five major operations were carried out almost daily “to keep militants at bay and on the run”.
Checkpoints were set up at crucial locations to “thwart militant movement,” a police official said.
“Even capital Srinagar saw two major operations in the past one month, leaving four militants dead, including LeT’s Mehraj-ud-Din Bangroo, alias Asif, and Sabzar Sofi, both militant strategists,” said a senior police official of the counter-insurgency cell.
Ten civilians and five security personnel also lost their lives during these operations. The impact of the drive was evident as militants “made no major bid to derail the panchayat polls in the State so far”.
The BJP said the killing of the BJP State secretary Anil Parihar and his brother on November 1 in Kishtwar was aimed at “derailing the polls”.
The first four phases of the election will see 4,218 contestants fighting for 2,088 sarpanch halqas.
A total of 20,743 candidates are contesting 16,077 panch seats. For the first phase, 427 candidates are in the fray for 536 sarpanch halqas and 5,951 for 4,048 panch wards.
There are 4,483 panchayat halqas and 35,029 panch constituencies in J&K and the polls will conclude on December 11.
The last panchayat elections were held in 2011 after a gap of 10 years. The term of the panchayats ended in July 2016. The elections were repeatedly deferred due to the volatile situation in Kashmir.
A total of 58,54,208 voters are registered for the polls.
The National Conference, which along with the Peoples Democratic Party, stayed away from the civic polls, said it would boycott the panchayat polls too.
“Remarks of Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh on NC staying away from the recent polls reflected sheer panic. The NC working committee decided to stay away from polls was limited to civic bodies and panchayat elections. The decision had nothing to do with Assembly or Parliament elections,” said NC provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani.
“We will fight to win forthcoming elections so as to defend Article 35A and Article 370 and to prevent BJP from installing its proxies via the back door as they have started doing. We have already requested Governor S.P. Malik to plead for deferment on next hearing of Article 35 A in Supreme Court till the formation of a popular government in the State. And he has principally agreed to our suggestion,” said Mr. Wani.
Separatists call for boycott
Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, while addressing the devotees at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar on Friday, said his party was for democracy but the current election process is just a military exercise.
“People have time and again rejected every election thrust on them with a view to dilute the disputed nature of Kashmir. Kashmir will once again reject the sham polls commencing from November 17 in the same way they out rightly rejected the Urban Local Body polls and send a message to one and all that people of Kashmir reject farcical exercises,” said the Mirwaiz.
In a joint call, all top separatist leaders have called for a poll boycott. “No one is averse to elections, it is an established democratic practice across the globe where people exercise their choice and decide who and how they want to be ruled but in Kashmir that is not the case. It is used as a means to continue forced rule,” he added.