Frisal: no contestant, no polling
Municipal Committee Frisal in Kulgam district became the first urban local body in the state where elections could not be held because not a single candidate turned up for the contest in any of its 13 wards.
Two major parties, BJP and Congress, could not find any candidate, while two big regional parties, NC and PDP, along with CPI (M), boycotted the elections in the wake of the controversy surrounding Article 35A.
Unlike other Municipal Committees of Kulgam district—Kulgam, Devsar and Yaripora—not even a migrant Kashmiri Pandit filed nomination in Frisal.
Frisal, along with Yaripora, is part of volatile Home Shalibugh constituency, which was represented in the Assembly by NC leader Abdul Majid Bhat (Larmi).
This area has witnessed many protests and also gunfights between militants and government forces post 2016 uprising triggered by the killing of Hizb commander Burhan Wani.
Tariq Ahmad, a local journalist said that low turnout was low even during 2014 Assembly elections in several areas of this constituency such as Qaimoh, Khudwani, Redwani, Kujar, Frisal, Yaripora and Arwani, which fall in Kulgam district, and Arwani village that is part of Anantnag district.
He said only those areas of Home Shalibugh, which fall in Anantnag district, would witness good turnout.
“So candidates not turning up to contest is not a surprise,” he said.
Meanwhile, elections were also not held in eight designated wards of neighboring Municipal Committee Yaripora.
“Three candidates had filed nomination from here and all of them were elected unopposed,” an official said.
In the first phase also, elections were also not held in Municipal Committees of Kulgam and Devsar.
In the 13 designated wards of MC Kulgam, only six candidates filed nominations and all of them have been elected unopposed.
Similarly, in eight municipal wards of MC Devsar, only eight candidates had filed nomination for each ward and therefore won unopposed.
Most of the candidates in Devsar MC were migrant Kashmiri Pandits and affiliated with BJP.
