Srinagar, Nov 14: Despite repeated claims of Jammu and Kashmir Government of having held Panchayat elections on non-party basis the Rural Development Department has done political profiling of the elected candidates.
 The documents in possession of Greater Kashmir reveal that Rural Development Department, which conducted civic polls, has linked the winning candidates with the political parties, although they had filed their nomination papers as independent candidates. The 16- phase civic polls in JK were held in between April and June this year, after a period of 10 years.
 The election results prepared by the Block Development Officers in some of the blocks of north Kashmir associate the winning candidates with National Conference, Congress, Peoples Democratic Party and other political parties.
 Documents reveal that in areas of block Wagoora falling in Sangrama assembly segment, NC and PDP have won eight seats each of Sarpanchs. While Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and independents have respectively bagged four, one and eight seats of the said post in the same block. Similarly, the affiliations of Panchs of the block have also been disclosed. The results indicate 36, 59, 16, 9 Panch seats have gone into the kitty of NC, PDP, Congress, and CPI (M) respectively.
 In other portion of this  block falling in Baramulla assembly segment, the official statistics reveal that NC has bagged single post of Sarpanch, while rest five have been won by PDP.
 The political profiling of the winning candidates of the halqas of Sangrama, Sopore and Rafiabad assembly constituencies falling in Sopore block has also been done in same manner. 
 Sarpanchs Nissar Ahmad Ganie , Muhammad Sultan Chopan , Muhammad Maqbool Yatto , Ghulam Muhammad Baidar, Farooq Ahmad Bhat, Ghulam Muhammad Lone, Khazir Muhammad Parrey, Habibulah Shiekh, Abdur Rasheed Dar , Bashir Ahmad Ganiae, Ghulam Muhammad Guroo, Wali Muhammad , Muhammad Abdullah Bhat, Abdur Rasheed Ganie, Fayaz Ahmad Naikoo , Hilal Ahmad Bhat, Muhammad Akbar Rather, Irshad Ahmad Mir , Abdur Rasheed Ganie,Ghulam Mohiuddin Dar and  Ghulam Rasool Tantray from this block  have also been linked with political parties.
 Department’s move has evoked criticism from political parties. “I don’t know what is  the logic behind this exercise but one thing is clear that government is paving way to purchase Sarpanchs to win elections of block Samitis and Legislative Council,” Peoples Democratic Party spokesman, Naeem Akthar said.
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Member Assembly Kulgam M Y Tarigami termed the move as unfair and absurd. “This is absolutely wrong. At the time of elections government announced that polls were held on non-party basis, it is amazing that now they are claiming that the winning candidates are affiliated with political parties,” Tarigami said.  
 However, Minister for Rural Development Ali Muhammad Sagar said it is easy to know the political association of people elected in the villages during these polls.
 When asked, how the department headed by him carried exercise when elections were held on the non-party basis, Sagar said, it became inevitable after some parties made exaggerated claims about their performance. 

Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 IST