No Elections in 169 Kashmir wards, 71 BJP candidates elected unopposed
At least 169 municipal wards in Kashmir will have no polls. One candidate withdrew from the elections on Wednesday, the last date of withdrawal of nominations for the third phase of the polls.
As per the latest figures, at least 179 candidates in Kashmir are likely to win the elections without contest, while 250 wards will face election in the next two weeks.
According to official figures of the chief electoral office, at least 426 nominations were found valid from the 14 municipalities of J&K falling under the third phase of the election process. The last date of withdrawal of nomination for the fourth phase is October 5.
The polling for 79 municipal bodies will be held in four phases on October 8, 10, 13 and 16.
At least 10 candidates have won uncontested from 13 wards of north Kashmir’s Hajin, while eight have won uncontested from Sopore. Similarly, four candidates have won uncontested from south Kashmir’s restive Tral town and one candidates from its neighbouring Awantipora. Official figures reveal that eight candidates from Ashmugam, eight from Pahalgam, and one from Seer Hamdan municipalities of the south Kashmir have won the elections uncontested.
In Phase-I, out of 149 wards in Kashmir, the Congress, BJP and Independents have won from 69 wards uncontested, while as 23 remained vacant.
Only 46 out 166 wards in Kashmir will face elections in Phase-II as candidates from 60 wards won uncontested. The remaining 60 didn’t find candidates.
In the third phase, out of 151 wards in the Valley, at least 49 candidates have won uncontested, while 46 have remained vacant. In the fourth phase, out of 132 wards, 40 have remained vacant.
Meanwhile, After winning 71 seats uncontested in the municipal polls in Kashmir, the righting BJP Wednesday said it was a big victory for the party especially in volatile areas of south Kashmir.
“I am very happy. We have emerged as winners in volatile areas of south Kashmir as well. We won 13 seats in Shopian. Our party will work for welfare of people,” said BJP state president Ravinder Raina.
Terming it as a “historic victory” for the party, he said, “Our candidates have also been elected uncontested in other parts of the valley as well.
Majority of the candidates are from South Kashmir”.
As per BJP, about 325 candidates of the party would contest the ULB elections in the Valley.
Out of 325 candidates, 71 have been elected uncontested in different parts of the valley.
Of the 71 uncontested candidates, 10 have been elected uncontested from north Kashmir and the remaining from volatile areas of south Kashmir.
In Sopore, BJP has won 8 seats uncontested, followed by one each in Magam and Bandipora.
In south Kashmir, BJP candidates have been elected uncontested in Devsar 8, Pahalgam 8, Qazigund 4, Ashmuqam 9, Seer Hamdan 3, Achabal 2, Bejhbehara 2, Anantnag 1, Pampore 5, Shopian 13, Awantipora 2, and the remaining are from Budgam district.
The BJP is likely to head municipalities in Devsar, Qazigund, Pahalgam, Ashmuqam, Seer Hamdan, Awantipora, Bejhbehara, Anantnag, Achabal, Shopian, Pampore, Sopore, Magam, Bandipora and Budgam.
