Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Oct 7: The Election authorities have officially declared 11 BJP candidates as unopposed winners in 17 member Shopian Municipal Committee (SMC) in South Kashmir which had to go to polls in the first phase tomorrow.
In a statement issued here today, District Election Officer (DEO), Shopian, Dr Owais Ahmed said that the 13 nominations were received for 17 Wards of the Municipal Committee Shopian. He said one nomination was rejected on technical grounds and another candidate had submitted nominations for two Wards. Thus, the Municipal Committee had 11 candidates contesting for 17 Wards. All the 11 candidates have been declared winners without any contest as there was no contestant against them, he added.
He said as the Government is readying for the first phase of the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections scheduled to be held on Monday, the process has been completed in Shopian district, where no contest will be held as all candidates were declared elected unopposed.
He said the district administration and the Government has made elaborate security arrangements for the Panchayat elections also.
It may be recalled that all the elected members of BJP to Shopian Municipal Committee who were declared winners unopposed are displaced people from Kashmir.
BJP is also all set to dominate the 17 member Municipal Committee, Pampore in South Kashmir district of Pulwama where the party has won four seats unopposed and is supported by one Independent candidate also who too won unopposed. As per reports, no candidate from any political party as well as Independent has filed their papers for rest 12 seats of Pamore MC.
In 13 member Tral Municipal Committee in Pulwama district of South Kashmir, BJP has won three seats unopposed while it is having support of one Independent candidate who too has been elected unconsted. There is no candidate for rest of nine seats in Tral.
In 13 member Pulwama Municipal Committee, BJP has won two seats unopposed while no candidate of any political party has filed the form for other 11 seats in this Municipal Committee.
The BJP has won three seats unopposed in 13 member Mattan Municipal Committee in South Kashmir district of Anantnag, while the party is in a straight contest for five other seats with Congress.
In 10-member Dooru and seven member Verinag Municipal Committees also in South Kashmir district of Anantnag, BJP has won one seat each unopposed in these two MCs respectively.
In 8 member Achabal Municipal Committee, BJP has won two seats unopposed while party is enjoying the support of one Independent candidate who also has won unopposed from this Municipal Committee. The Congress has won two seats from this Municipal Committee while no forms were received for rest of the three seats.
In 13 member Pahalgam Municipal Committee also in South Kashmir district of Anantnag, BJP has won eight seats unopposed while no candidate has filled up forms for rest five seats. Likewise the party has won five seats in Ashmuqam Municipal Committee in Anantnag district of South Kashmir and it has backing of three independents who too won unopposed from this Municipal Committee taking the tally of BJP to 8 while one seat has gone to Congress from here. However no form came for rest of four seats.
In 13-member Seer Municipal Committee that too falls in South Kashmir district of Anantnag, BJP has won two seats unopposed while no party fielded its candidate for rest 11 seats.
The BJP has also won two seats each in 17 member Municipal Committee of Bijebehara in Aantnag district of South Kashmir and in Kulgam Municipal Committee in South Kashmir.
After the withdrawal of nomination papers for these Municipal Committees was over on October 3 and 5 respectively a clear picture has emerged which showed that BJP has emerged victorious in Shopian, Pahlgam, Ashmuqam and it is in dominating position in Pampore, Tral and Achabal.
The Party can also have control over Mattan MC in case it wins two more seats from there as out of 13 seats election is being held on eight seats only in this Municipal Committee. Any party which wins five seats can have its control over this Municipality.
It may be recalled that BJP has already won two Municipal Committees of Qazigund in South Kashmir district of Anantnag and Devsar in South Kashmir district of Kulgam.
Maintaining that BJP will register its victory in Anantnag Municipal Council also, party’s South Kashmir incharge, Veer Saraf said the opposition has created a hoax of terrorist threat while there is no such situation on the ground. He said had the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) joined the election process the situation could have altogether different and terrorists and separatists would have got big blow.
Saraf said it is unfortunate that the two Kashmir centric parties by boycotting the poll have provided oxygen to dying militancy in the Valley.
BJP senior vice president of the State and MLC, Sofi Yousf gave full credit to his party activists who kept the national flag up in the Valley and foiled the attempts of terrorists and two main stream political parties of the State NC and PDP to make the ULB and Municipal Committee elections, which were announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from ramparts of Red Fort during this year’s Independence Day function, a failure. But the BJP activists showed great courage to frustrate their designs and stood by national cause solidly, he added.
Meanwhile in Jammu the voters of Upper Shiva Nagar which falls in Ward 33 have expressed grave concern over linking of area with ward number 26 just 12 hours before the polls. The voters have criticized the functioning of Election authorities also.
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