Srinagar Apr 10 Latching onto the PDP candidate’s demand for postponement of Anantnag by-poll in view of violence, NC leader Omar Abdullah today said it was an “indictment” of the government headed by his sister. “Tassaduq’s statement is an indictment of his sister @MehboobaMufti’s government and its abject failure. How can the BJP not see this (sic),” the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister posted on Twitter. “EC is well within its powers to postpone or countermand Anantnag election but if so @MehboobaMufti must resign & Governor should take charge (sic),” he said in another tweet. PDP candidate from Anantnag, Tasaduq Mufti, had earlier in the day appealed to the Election Commission to defer the by-poll to the constituency, saying the situation was not conducive for holding elections in Kashmir at the moment. Eight people were yesterday killed in firing by security forces as unprecedented election-day violence marred the by-poll for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat which saw the voter turnout plunge to an all-time low of 7.14 per cent. Anantnag constituency, spread over four districts of Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian and Anantnag, is scheduled to go to polls on Wednesday. PTI
Srinagar, Apr 9 Seven people were killed in firing by security forces as unprecedented election-day violence marred the by-poll for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat on Sunday which saw the voter turnout plunge to an all-time low of 6.5 per cent
Rampaging mobs took to streets in scores of places across the Lok Sabha constituency straddling Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts, perpetrating wanton violence and arson, even setting ablaze a polling station and attempting to set on fire two others, amid a boycott called by the separatists
“The tentative voter turnout for the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency is 6.5 per cent,” Jammu and Kashmir?s Chief Electoral Officer Shantmanu told reporters at the conclusion of polling
The seat had recorded 26 per cent polling in the 2014 general elections
In the 1989 election, National Conference’s Mohammad Shafi Bhat had won the seat uncontested
The previous lowest turnout in the prestigious seat was 11.93 per cent in 1999 when Omar Abdullah had defeated Mehbooba Mufti in a straight contest
The state’s former chief minister and National Conference stalwart Farooq Abdullah, who had lost the seat in the 2014 election, is locked in a straight fight with ruling PDP’s Nazir Ahmad Khan even though there are seven other candidates in the fray
“There were more than 200 incidents of violence in the constituency, mostly in Budgam district, which included stone-pelting, petrol bomb attacks, setting ablaze of a polling station, some vehicles and attempt to burn two other polling stations,” Shantmanu said
“It was not a good day as you know. Six lives were lost in these incidents of violence… 17 civilians were injured, while over 100 paramilitary and police personnel also sustained injuries,” he said
Shortly thereafter, 17-year-old Amir Manzoor was killed when security personnel fired at a stone-pelting mob in Chadoora area of the constituency, taking the death toll to seven
The CEO said a decision on repoll in violence-hit areas will be taken after examining the diaries of presiding officers
“I cannot tell you exactly how many polling stations will go to repolls…it can be anywhere between 50 and 100. It is a wild guess,” he said
While two people each were killed Pakherpora in Chrar-e- Sharief and Beerwah areas of Budgam district, two more deaths were reported from Chadoora area of the same district and another in Magam town, which is known as the gateway to Gulmarg
Almost 70 per cent of the polling booths in Budgam district were abandoned by the polling staff due to the spate of violent protests in several areas, officials said
Army was called out to help security forces quell a rampaging mob which threw stones and hurled petrol bombs to set a polling booth ablaze in the Ganderbal district of the constituency
Hundreds of protestors stormed a polling station at Pakherpora in Chrar-e-Sharief area of Budgam district and ransacked a building housing a polling booth, officials said, adding the security forces fired several warning rounds to disperse the mob, which did not relent
Six persons were injured in the firing, of whom two, 20- year-old Mohammad Abbas and 15-year-old Faizaan Ahmad Rather, succumbed to bullet wounds
In another incident, security forces opened fire to quell a stone-pelting mob in Ratxuna Beerwah area, leaving one Nissar Ahmed dead. At the Daulatpura in Chadoora assembly segment of Budgam district, one person, identified as Shabir Ahmed, was killed in firing by security personnel
A youth, Adil Farooq, succumbed to multiple pellet injuries in the Magam town, about 20 kms from here. One Aqib Wani was shot dead as police opened fire on a crowd of protestors in the Beerwah area in the afternoon
National Conference working president Omar Abdullah said in his 20 year political career he had never seen such a bad enviroment for elections
“I am talking about having fought my first election in 1998 at the peak of militancy. Even then the enviroment for campaigning and voting was not as bad as it is today.