August 14
The by-polls to any seat are normally held within six months after it becomes vacant, due to resignation or death of the serving legislators.
However, the by-polls on Anantnag seat have not been held since April 4 in 2017, when Mehbooba Mufti resigned as MP and took over as the chief minister of the state after her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away on January 7, 2016.
Citing the Security Situation, The Election commission had deferred the by-polls on this seat in April this year following the violence and killings of eight civilians during polling for Srinagar parliament seat which were held in two phases in April.
But Jammu Kashmir is now gearing for elections that have never been held since the year 2005. Sources tell The Kashmiriyat that the state machinery has been told to prepare the polls which had time and again put off by the former chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti citing security reasons.
In 2016, panchayat polls were deferred post the killing of Burhan Wani, pertinently a report published in 2012 in Hindustan Times revealed that 350 elected members of Panchayat had resigned in a period of one year. Many Panchs and Sarpanchs were also shot dead.
There is also a tussle between the local MLAs and sarpanches over power sharing mechanism.”The killings of panches and sarpanches are also mysterious as no militant outfit has taken any responsibility,” a resigned member of a Panchayat told The Kashmiriyat.
Posters purportedly pasted by militants outfits used to come up in south and north Kashmir asking sarpanches and panches to resign publicly from their posts. “We live in villages, we are vulnerable and the Government despite several requests has failed to provide us security, The government is making us scapegoats for its political interests,” he said.