People in the restive Pulwama district in southern Kashmir remained as indifferent to panchayat polls Tuesday as they were to the municipal elections recently.
During the urban local body elections, no contest was seen across five municipalities of the volatile district because no candidate had filed a nomination or some candidates in the fray won unopposed.
Similarly, there was no contest witnessed in majority of panchayat halqas and panch wards because there was only one contender in fray and most of the wards remained vacant because there were no contestants at all.
Out of 11 blocks in the district, eight were either won by candidates unopposed or no one was seen standing for the polls.
Polling in other three blocks was recorded around 1 to 2 percent.
Barring Pulwama, Tral and Kakapora blocks where a small contest took place, other blocks including Aripal, Dardsara, Awantipora, Pampore, Litter, Newa, Shadimarg and Achgooze went uncontested.
According to a source, many migrant and local Sikh candidates had filed their nominations for the panchayat polls in these three blocks.
“Had they not filed the nominations, there would have been no contest at all,” the source said.
For the final phase of panchayat elections Tuesday, an official told Greater Kashmir that no nominations were received for remaining 18 sarpanch halqas and 151 panch constituencies of Kakapora block.
Similarly, no nominations were received for remaining 15 sarpanch halqas and 146 panch constituencies of Awantipora block. Five sarpanchs and 12 panchs were elected unopposed, he said.
“Out of 3500 votes, 72 votes were polled including 40 male and 32 female votes. During the polling, 24 migrant votes were received through postal ballot and 48 local votes were recorded in Pinglana polling booth of Kakapora,” the official said.
The polling staff had a leisure time as fewer voters were seen at polling booths. The view outside other polling stations was no different. During the day, government forces manning the polling station were seen busy gossiping.
The streets and roads at Kakapora revealed that people preferred to stay inside their homes. The roads were largely deserted, except for presence of forces personnel and journalists.
At the end of the day, Pulwama district recorded dismal voter turnout of 1.4 percent.
“There is no question of elections in our area. We always boycott any form of elections,” said a local resident, Pervaiz Ahmad.
Pulwama district is considered to be a hotbed of militancy. Its areas including Tral, Awantipora, Khrew have seen major gunfights between militants and government forces in the last few years.
The Awantipora block, where polling was scheduled in the final phase, went uncontested.
Awantipora is another volatile area in Pulwama district, with many militants, including top commander, hailing from here. It is also hometown of Hizbul Mujahideen operational commander Riyaz Naikoo and chief of Alqaeda-affiliated Ansar Gazwatul Hind, Zakir Musa.