The winter chill failed to dampen the zest of the voters in Kangan area of Ganderbal district where polling for three District Development Council (DDC) constituencies was held on Tuesday.
Traditionally known to witness good turnout of voters, people turned up in large numbers to vote for the three DDC constituencies in Kangan including Kangan A, B and C besides 4 sarpanch and 66 panch constituencies.
The morning haze adding to the chill did not stop the villagers from coming out to the polling stations set up under high security cover at walking distance from their homes.
Some of the voters had queued outside the polling stations before 8 am. The polling areas presented a relaxed atmosphere as men, women and elderly voters came to exercise their franchise. Police and forces kept a strict vigil to ensure peaceful polling throughout the day.
An official said that the polling concluded peacefully in the three constituencies in which 15,777 out of 32,135 voters voted to choose their representatives.
District Election Officer, Ganderbal, Shafqat Iqbal told Greater Kashmir that a final voter turnout of 49.1 percent was recorded for the DDC polls.
He said that 194 candidates were in fray for the phase-II of the DDC and panchayat by-polls of the vacant sarpanch and panch seats which include 27 for DDC, 13 for sarpanch and 154 for panch seats for which 171 polling stations were established with sufficient strength of polling staff.
Iqbal said that a voter percentage of 69 was recorded for sarpanch elections and 70 percent for panch elections.
Meanwhile, people said that they want a local representative who is accessible to them and would work for the development of the area.
“There are many problems in our area with regard to basic amenities. This is the reason why we have all come out to vote this time. We want to give some new faces a chance. All we expect is local governance and development,” said Riyaz Ahmad, a voter in Chahtergul area.
Similarly, voters turned up in large numbers at other polling stations to accomplish their mission of bringing about “change and development”.
“We don’t have any representative like a minister or MLA to redress our day-to-day issues in our village. We want a local representative who is accessible to us and will work for the development of our area,” said Ghulam Hassan, an elderly man.