Updated: November 28, 2020 7:29:09 am
Election officials in the Anantnag district on Friday. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)
There are no election signs on the 120km stretch from Srinagar to Larnoo in Anantnag. Until the town of Dandipora appears and a banner announces the name of a candidate: Khalida Bibi. With an image of the PDP chairman, Mehbooba Mufti, and the interlocking PDP and NC flags, it also symbolizes the main front of the PAGD.
Bibi is among 89 women candidates, and 296 in all, competing in the opening phase of the first District Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, covering nearly 7 billion voters and 43 constituencies. .
The polls constitute the first test for the Center’s decision to restart the political process after the bifurcation of the state into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh last August. Spread over eight phases this month and next, the elections will witness voting from 7 am to 2 pm.
Read | J&K DDC Polls: Fate of 296 Candidates Will Be Decided Today
In Larnoo, which is among the 25 electoral districts in the Valley that will go to the polls on Saturday, several vehicles line the street in front of the polling place, ready to send voting parties to 143 booths. The seat is reserved for ST women and is being contested by Bibi from PAGD, Farhana Akhtar from Congress and three independents, all marking her debut.
Records show the constituency has no BJP candidate despite claims by the party that it is contending for 140 seats across the Valley. There is also no mention of the J&K Apni Party, which was formed this year by former leaders of the PDP and NC as an alternative to the mainstream.
On Friday, when there are hours until the first vote is cast, Bibi’s house fills with visitors. Her husband, Gulzar Ahmad Khatana, a PDP worker who was elected to Sarpanch in 2008, is part of a group of men who carefully study voter lists.
Read also | Mehbooba Mufti stopped leaving home, access to the press was also blocked
Bibi highlights the lack of political representation and its impact over the past year and a half. “The underprivileged in this area have no money to spend visiting the DC office. Where will they get the resources to visit the Lieutenant Governor’s advisers? she asks.
Her husband Khatana says he wants to address the political vacuum following the Center’s decision on August 5, 2019. “There are very few issues in the hands of the panchayats. This is a bigger platform. It will give us a greater opportunity to work for our areas, since a constituency, which was previously represented by an MLA, will now have 14 representatives from the grassroots, ”he says.
Congressional candidate Akhtar says her campaign “has largely been door-to-door.” The scope has been limited, he says, given the “difficult security atmosphere” in southern Kashmir.
“The main problems are the roads, electricity, hospitals. Restoration of Article 370 is a bigger fight and will be taken up by our senior leaders. For now, my main concern is that students are struggling without proper connectivity and that hinders their education, “says Akhtar.
Dandipora resident Ali Mohammad Mir says DDC surveys offer an opportunity. “I don’t have the means to go to the Secretariat. And with lock after lock, there is hardly any transport. This way, I have someone within my reach who can speak for me, ”he says.
Across the street from Bibi’s home, voting staff begin loading ballot boxes into vehicles. For the first time, the boxes bear this mark: “Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”
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