KNZ NEWS DESK
‘People don’t know who is contesting from whichward’Srinagar, Monday 08 October2018:National Conference on Monday said that ongoingULB polls has turned out to be an exercise in waste as first phase of polling has witnessed a record low poll percentage in the valley with as many as 215 candidates getting elected unopposed with 177 wards having no candidates.In a statement released from NC head quarters Nawa-e-Subah,party’s Provincial Spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said that the whole processhas been superimposed on the state without taking into consideration the ground realities. “It is an inconsiderate exercise to hold ULB polls in the valley.The institutions of the state are being bulldozed andplayed with just to satiate the arrogance of those who continue to target the states special statusand doesn’t wantnormalcy to return to thestate.”He said that elections are like festivals of democracy which inducenew life in a nation’s life but the ongoing polls have cast a shadowon the very roots of democracy in the state.Questioning the validity ofthe poll process, Imran said, “The whole exercise of conducting pollshas turned out to be a crude joke. In most of the wards people simply don’t know who is contesting from theirwards as contestants are putting up in guarded hotels within Srinagar and other areas. They have not even gone into their areas seeking votes. Even the names of the candidates were never released by the election commission. Is this what their idea of democracy is?”The provincial spokesperson also said that the whole process isturning out to be a farce and that the number of candidates who havewon unopposed for the want of other candidates is very large. “It isshare mockery of the democratic process. National conference will withstand such idiocy peacefully and in a democratic way.”“With major mainstream political parties not in the fray, the idea of having a participatory democracy stands defeated in the state. If we compare the figures of last Panchayat elections held in the state in 2011, the poll percentage in the ongoingULB polls is its pale shadow. In 2011 panchayat polls saw over 80 percent polling in the valley,” he said.The party spokesperson added that from some places in south Kashmir reports about BJP functionaries coercing people to contest the ULB elections are pouring in. He said that such incidents areshameful and need to be investigated thoroughly by the states securityapparatus.
