KV News

Complementing what

Complementing what
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If Democracy is about numbers then the recently concluded Urban Local Body Polls changed the very definition of democracy. The polls that concluded on Saturday last will perhaps be remembered as nearly 70 per cent of wards that went to polls did not witness any polling as there was no candidate at all or some of them had a lone contestant who won unopposed.

The figures that are emerging from the polls carry lot of weight-age as the conduct of these polls is being seen as an achievement by the administration with the ruling party at the centre, BJP-taking credit to conduct these polls.

Some surprising data has emerged from these elections as out of 40, the total number of ULB’s-actual polling was held on just 13 local bodies. This meant that just 186 wards went to polls while as a total number of wards that had to witness polls was 598.

The wards had outnumbered the contestants as a mere 181 candidates participated in the elections while as 231 wards had no contestants. Interestingly, 412 wards did not witness any polls and the administration though it wise to complement itself and the agencies that were involved in the conduct of the polls.

Though the government had made elaborate security arrangements to secure polling staff and polling stations but kept the identity of candidates, who dared to defy militant threats, a secret for security reasons. As a result, there was no campaigning for these elections and in most cases the candidates chose to remain anonymous.

The elections will be remembered for another reason as well. Though the entire government machinery was put behind the conduct of the polls still over thirty per cent of wards in these 40 urban local bodies across Kashmir valley will remain unrepresented.

The reasons for the low participation in these polls – candidate-wise as well as voting percentage-wise – has many reasons. One the people in most of the areas felt disinterested in being part of the poll process and secondly the violence that has been going on in the valley also played its part.

Even as stringent security arrangements were made for the smooth conduct of the polls and the candidates at many places were taken to secure locations – which meant no visible campaign for the polls in the valley, the administration could not win over the trust of the people as well as contestants.

The state’s two main political mainstream parties, National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – along with CPI(M) stayed away from the polls because of the legal challenge to Article 35-A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court however, the reasons to stay away had to do more with the feedback these parties got from their grass root level workers.

The situation in no way was conducive for polls and the assertion stands true even after the ULB polls are over. There is a strong disconnect among the masses and the alienation particularly among the youth and which the present administration admits candidly too is getting deeper and deeper with every passing day.

In such a scenario getting so hastily through the local body polls can point out to either ignorance or some calculated risk which the present administration is willing to take. However, the conduct of polls in such a way will do Kashmir no good, rather the issue can turn more murkier.


KV News

Kashmir Vision cover all daily updates for the newspaper

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