Sham polls held in six more districts of occupied Kashmir

MUZAFFARABAD: In the second phase of the local government elections in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, polling was held in 26 constituencies of six more districts in the disputed territory.

According to local media, the turnout remained very low due to the curfew-like situation as the Indian regime had deployed hundreds of thousands of military and paramilitary personnel in the districts. Troops were also deployed inside and outside the polling stations.

In order to give the illegal polling process legitimacy, the Indian government had invited a select group of diplomats of foreign countries to observe the elections.

The local residents told media that most of them did not come out of their houses to cast their votes due to the fear of being arrested and the poor and uncertain law and order situation.

The first phase of the local government elections was held on Sept 18. Pakistan has already declared these polls in the occupied territory as illegal and against the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

Since India abolished the special status of Kashmir in August 2019, the disputed territory administration has not held any local government elections. The last local government elections in occupied Kashmir were held over a decade ago.

There are in total 90 seats of the local government in occupied Kashmir and polling in 24 of them will be held on Wednesday. As many as 219 candidates are in the field for the 24 seats, according to the election commission.

Local people said that the Indian occupation forces conducted security combing and search operations before the local government elections and there was curfew like situation.