Srinagar, May 16: The President of Peoples Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said the overwhelming participation of the people in Panchayat elections is a vote against the NC led coalition in the state.
 “The defeat suffered by the most of the candidates sponsored by NC throughout the state has jolted 80-year old party at the grassroots,” she told a meeting of the party workers and newly elected Panches and Sarpanches of Ganderbal constituency.
 Mehbooba said in view of its “disastrous performance” over the two and half years NC had smelled defeat in the panchayat polls and in order to “camouflage” it elections were held on non party basis. But, people at the village level could not be fooled by this tactics of the government as every candidate there had a party tag on him. In this game, she said the NC had been clearly beaten by the people and it could not escape the punishment almost at the same scale as was meted out to the ruling parties in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
 Mehbooba said the NC was trying to repair the damage suffered by its organization by trying to coerce or bribe the newly elected village representatives to join it in order to stage a fake victory. But, people of the state know how the NC ultimately “uses people and throws them” as they did to the BJP legislators “whose vote was purchased” in the council elections and later abandoned, she said.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 IST