Jammu, April 18: The second phase of panchayat elections in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on Sunday witnessed an 82% turnout despite the assassination of female candidate Haseena Begum, 40, at Karpora-Pakherpora in Nagam block on Friday night. The pre-poll violence was intended to create fear among the voters since the militants’ call to boycott the first phase of polls had failed to stop people from voting. The voter turnout was 78% during the first phase of polls, held on April 13.
“I want development of my area. I want to choose my representative, so that he could plead my case before the higher echelons of power in the state,” said Faisal Ahmad, who cast his vote at Hardpora village in the Nagam block. “The common man will benefit from the polls. And this is the biggest motivation for people like me to vote,” said Abdul Rashid Bhat, who is in his late 50s.
Though the polls are not being held on party lines, Haseena Begum was affiliated with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
BR Sharma, chief electoral officer of J&K, said any incident or bereavement usually has an impact, but the overall percentage was overwhelming. “The Nagam block witnessed 77% polling,” he told DNA. Polling for the seat where Haseena was a candidate was countermanded, while voting was almost negligible in Pakherpora area.
There are 143 blocks, 4,130 panchayat seats and 29,719 sarpanch seats across the state. Five blocks in Kashmir and three in Jammu, having 275 sarpanches and 2,031 panchayat seats, went to polls on Sunday. Earlier in the day, chief minister Omar Abdullah urged the media not to hype the polling percentage. “Will the media now please leave us to have our panchayat elections without crowing about the turnout? We can do without the attention,” he tweeted.
This is the first full-fledged panchayat elections where the representatives of the three-tier system — gram panchayats, block and district development council — will be elected. In 1978, the elections were held for only two tiers.
–Agencies