J&K BJP seizes chance as parties boycott civic polls

The BJP has fielded candidates on most seats not only in its bastion in the Jammu region of the state but also in those parts of the Kashmir Valley where it would, until recently, be hesitant to tread.

Srinagar: A Kashmiri adage goes “Aekh sizn drokh, bayyi son’d g’aza (One person’s vomit can be other person’s food)”. The adage is being put into practice practically across civic poll-bound Jammu and Kashmir.

Apart from the separatists’ boycott, the state’s two principal political parties — National Conference (NC) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) — along with CPI(M) and some other groups have chosen to shun the upcoming urban local body and panchayat polls citing the situation on the ground created by the Union government’s imprudently linking these polls with Article 35A case pending before the Supreme Court (SC) and apprehension among the people.

Though the Congress after its initial reluctance decided to join the fray on the premise that “we can’t keep the field open for communal forces” and Janata Dal (United) and some other parties and groups also followed suit, it is mainly the BJP which is trying to harvest in the void created by the boycott. Seizing the opportunity, it has fielded candidates on most seats not only in its bastion in the Jammu region but also in parts of the Kashmir Valley where it would, until recently, be hesitant to tread.

The government’s announcing a slew of measures and incentives for the candidates apart from the assurance of personal security helped the BJP find many takers for tickets despite the separatists’ boycott call and the looming threat of violence from militants.

It is likely that for the first time in the electoral history of the state the saffron party may take control of, at least, seven municipal committees in Kashmir Valley unopposed in these elections.  As many as  215 municipal wards will return their representative unopposed and nearly 60 of these candidates are likely to be from the BJP, including those in southern parts of the Valley which have been worst hit in turmoil during the past three years.

The BJP has fielded 350 candidates for 600 municipal wards in the Valley’s 10 districts. “About 60 of them have already been elected unopposed,” the party said.  The polling for the remaining ones will be held in four phases from October 8.

Jammu and Kashmir has two municipal corporations for its twin capitals Srinagar and Jammu, six municipal councils and 71 municipal committees. Elections to panchayats will follow, again in a phased-manner.

As many as 982 candidates have filed their nominations for the four-phased urban local body and municipal elections across the Kashmir Valley despite the boycott diktats. However, that does not suggest there have been no takers for the separatists’ boycott call or the NC, PDP and CPI(M)’s no-participation decision. Not a single candidate has filed nomination papers for 178 municipal wards out of a total 624 in the Kashmir Valley. This with 215 wards seeing no contest means tens of thousands of people will not be exercising their voting rights. A similar situation is emerging in connection with the panchayat elections.

Also, 10 BJP candidates quit in Dooru-Verinag area of Anantnag district where unknown persons torched the harvested paddy crop of a BJP candidate Gul Muhammad Khan.

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), an alliance of key separatist leaders, has while condemning the arrest of its member and JKLF chairman Muhammad Yaseen Malik and many activists ahead of the polls asked people to observe a shutdown on October 8 “to protest the commencement of the ULB and panchayat election drama being foisted upon them”.

A senior police official said that the separatists’ boycott diktat or some mainstream parties’ decision to stay away from the democratic exercise is not a cause of worry for the authorities but it is the apprehension that militants may try to harm the candidates in fray and even disrupt the poll process that is giving them some sleepless nights. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he said.

Earlier, the NC said that it won’t participate in the exercise and may boycott also state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections “unless and until the Centre clears its position vis-a-vis Article 35A.

Following criticism, the Governor’s administration on September 25 said that it was an elected government which alone should fight the case of Article 35A in the Supreme Court.