3-part Anantnag poll due to ‘serious security risk’

NEW DELHI/ SRINAGAR: The Election Commission, which in view of the J&K government's concerns over the "volatile security situation" in Anantnag has deferred a parliamentary bypoll there since April 2017, was faced with the option of excluding it altogether from the Lok Sabha poll schedule or staggering polling for the single seat over multiple phases.
The reason why the EC chose to conduct the poll over three phases, sources said, was that Anantnag was a serious security challenge.Anantnag district will go to polls in Phase 3 on April 23, Kulgam in Phase 4 on April 29 and the two "terror hotbeds" of Pulwama and Shopian in Phase 5 on May 6.

The Election Commission was of the view, taken after consultation with the J&K government and the Union home ministry that putting off polls further in Anantnag while holding them for the remaining five parliamentary seats in the state would send a negative signal both at home and abroad regarding sanctity of democratic processes in J&K.
A perpetually-delayed parliamentary election in Anantnag, housing Pulwama and Shopian that have reported the highest terrorist activity in recent years, would carry the risk of worsening the already negative public sentiment there and leading elements linked to locally-strong outfits like Jamaat-e-Islami to exploit it for pushing more youth to terror.
Jamaat-e-Islami was recently declared an unlawful association and 400 of its leaders and cadres arrested over the past fortnight.
Sources in the central security establishment said that Anantnag, traditionally a support-base of PDP, was most disaffected by the party's alliance with BJP and had witnessed the most violent backlash.
The presence of strong local networks of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen in Anantnag - facilitated by overground supporters from Jamaat - could spur possible attempts to derail the parliamentary poll with violent attacks targeted at candidates and security forces, the state authorities warned the EC.
Intelligence officials attribute the higher incidence of terrorist violence in Anantnag, or 'Islamabad' to locals, to the anti-India sentiment that gripped it right from the outset. The strong Jamaat presence in south Kashmir promoted radicalisation of locals, helping terror outfits get more recruits and bases. Of the total 336 terrorists active in the Valley, 204 (including 175 locals and 29 foreign terrorists) are in south Kashmir alone.
The killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in a 2016 encounter in Anantnag further helped JeI mobilise locals for violence. The cycle of violence that followed led to an abysmally low turnout in Srinagar parliamentary bypoll held in April 2017, prompting the state government to advise the EC to defer Anantnag bypoll scheduled soon after, by over a month. However, the continuing "volatile" security situation there led EC to ultimately cancel the bypoll. The bypoll was never held as the situation was not seen as conducive.