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No voting in 3 Panchayat blocks of south Kashmir

ESS AHMAD. Dated: 12/8/2018 11:48:03 PM

19 of 23 sarpanch halqas, 171 panch constituencies remain vacant in Quimoo

ANANTNAG, Dec 8: No voting took place in any of the panchayat blocks of southern Pulwama and Kulgam districts where polling was slated during 8th phase today as the wards were either vaccant or the candidates were elected unopposed.
Polling was scheduled in volatile Quimoo block in Kulgam district while in Pulwama district, Pampore and Achgoza panchayat blocks were scheduled for polls.
In Quimoo Panchayat block which has a total of 23 Sarpanch halqas, 4 candidates who had filed nominations for four different Halqas were elected unopposed in the absence of opponents. Rest of the 19 Halqas, an official said, remained vaccant as nobody had turned up to contest there.
The block, as per the official figures has 177 Panch constituencies out of which 171 constituencies remained vaccant. Five panches, however, were declared winners unopposed as none of them had opponents.
Similarly in Pampore Panchayat block which has 18 Sarpanch halqas and 138 Panch constituencies, six sarpanchs and 18 panches were elected unopposed.
"No voting was required anywhere in the block as no two candidates had filed nominations for a single halqa anywhere in the block. 120 panch constituencies and 12 sarpanch halqas remained vaccant in the block due to the absence of candidates," said an official.
In nearby Achgoza Panchayat block in the same district, the scenario was no better as not a single halqa witnessed polling there as well.
The block, according to official figures, has 11 sarpanch halqas and 93 panch constituencies. Figures suggested that three candidates who had filed nominations as Sarpanches for three different wards were elected unopposed while seven wards remained vaccant.
Out of 93 panch constituencies in the block, nominations had been filed only for seven constituencies and all the seven were declared winners unopposed in the absence of opponents. "86 panch constituencies remained vaccant as nobody had come forward to contest from there," an official involved in the poll process said.
Pertinently unlike north Kashmir which witnessed moderate to high voter turnout in all the eight phases of panchayat polls, south Kashmir remained unresponsive to polls.
Most of the Sarpanch and Panch Halqas remained vaccant in all the four districts while some were elected unopposed.
Though some halqas in some blocks in the region witnessed polling but voter turnout except in some halqas of Breng and Kokernag did not cross the single digit mark.