M A I N   N E W S

Poll in Anantnag, Pulwama today
Litmus test for ruling coalition
Ehsan Fazili
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 5
While the people’s verdict in the civic poll has been delivered in north Kashmir and the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, it is to be decided in the twin districts of Anantnag and Pulwama in South Kashmir tomorrow.

These elections will be a litmus test for the PDP and the Congress which have the Chief Minister and seven other ministers, including the state Congress chief, elected from the area.

Anantnag is the home district of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, while the twin districts form part of the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency of the PDP President, Ms Mehbooba Mufti.

Members from 20 wards have been declared elected unopposed in Anantnag district. They belong to the ruling alliance. Out of the 63 wards in six municipal committees in Pulwama district, polling is being held for only 14 wards, while candidates in 29 other wards have been declared elected unopposed.

There are no candidates for the remaining 20 wards in the district. In the Municipal Committee, Pulwama, four members, three from the PDP and one from the Congress, have been declared elected unopposed.

The PDP is contesting all nine remaining seats, the Congress five and the National Conference also five.

Except for three civic bodies in Anantnag district, polling is being held in six other committees and an equal number of committees in the adjacent Pulwama district. Civic polls to two other municipal committees of Ganderbal in Srinagar district and Budgam district town in central Kashmir is scheduled for February 10.

In the districts of Baramula and Kupwara, the ruling coalition parties have registered a remarkable victory over the Opposition National Conference. On the other hand, in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation elections, the Opposition National Conference has won 41 of the 68 wards, making inroads into the NC bastion.

As compared to the poll held in north Kashmir and Srinagar Municipal Corporation, the scenario is different in south Kashmir, where polling is to be held tomorrow. The twin districts have 16 Assembly seats, 10 represented by the ruling PDP and two each by its allies, the Congress and the CPI (M).

Only two seats, one each in Anantnag and Pulwama districts, are represented by the National Conference. Out of the 10 seats in Anantnag district, the PDP has got six seats, the Congress two, the CPI (M) one and the National Conference also one.

In the adjacent Pulwama district, the ruling PDP has four seats out of six, while one is represented by its ally, CPI (M), and one by the National Conference.

The PDP President, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, was elected to the Assembly first from her home constituency of Bijbehara in 1996 and later from Pahalgam in 2002. She vacated her Pahalgam seat following her election to the Lok Sabha in the 2004 General Election leading to the election of her father and Jammu and Kashmir Chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to the state Assembly.