Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Apr 24: The Election Commission of India (ECI) wants to conduct by-poll in volatile South Kashmir’s Anantnag constituency in phased manner by May 25 so that there is enough security cover.
Sources said that this transpired during the high level review meeting held through video-conferencing by the ECI. The meeting discussed preparedness of Anantnag Parliamentary by-poll and assessed the security situation of South Kashmir.
Sources said that the ECI wants to go ahead with the by-poll and the process should be completed by May 23 in 2-3 Phases amid tight security. The ECI team, which was briefed about the security situation in South Kashmir, however, was of the view that there should be no violence during polls but was not concerned about the poll percentage.
They assured the administration that they will be provided the required security forces in Anantnag for polls. The team was told that lack of adequate security forces led to violence in Srinagar in which atleast 8 persons were killed and over 200 were injured.
Police had sought 300 companies of the security forces in addition to already present in Kashmir on law and order duty but the ECI provided them only half of it from outside and 65 of these companies were not at deployed for Srinagar as they reached in the afternoon of April 8.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) urged the ECI to defer the election, saying that the people of Kashmir are reluctant to cast their ballots at present. “We told ECI that the atmosphere is not conducive for the poll. The people here are reluctant to cast their ballots this time and keeping in view of such circumstances, the Anantnag by-poll must be deferred,” a PDP leader said.
The opposition political parties including NC and Congress boycotted the video conference. The President of the Congress party and candidate for the Anantnag constituency, G A Mir, told Excelsior that his party boycotted the video conferencing as it was first slated to be at SKICC and later the venue was changed to Police Control Room (PCR). “We showed our reluctance in attending the Video Conference at PCR”, he said.
Mir said that Shantmanu asked him over the phone about his view point. “We were not on board when elections were announced and then they were deferred after violence in Srinagar by the ECI without we being on board”, Mir said he told CEO and asked him to take a decision and then the Congress-NC will give opinion on the basis on ground situation. “I told him that ECI didn’t accept our demand and went ahead with conduct of polls. We don’t want any bloodshed during the by-poll in Anantnag and that is our main concern”, he told CEO.
Mir further told CEO that there should be no interference of the Government in the elections and any security issue.
Chief Electoral Officer Shantmanu, Divisional Commissioner Baseer Khan, IGP SJM Gillani, DIG CRPF and concerned District Election Officers briefed Deputy Election Commissioners, Umesh Sinha and Sandeep Saxena, besides Director Secretariat of ECI Nikhil Kumar about the by-poll preparedness and security situation particularly in South Kashmir.
The Chief Electoral Officer also held a detailed meeting with representatives of political parties, contesting candidates, officers of police and other security agencies in which District Election Officers and SSPs of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam districts participated through video conferencing.
The meeting held discussions on security situation and other related issues regarding the conduct of Anantnag by-poll.
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