SRINAGAR: Suspected rebels have shot dead a village head in Kashmir, police said yesterday, a day before a second stage of voting in the state.
Security is tight across the region, where thousands of extra paramilitary troops have been deployed during local elections, which are being held in five stages.
The killing occurred late on Sunday, the day after a grenade attack injured eight people near a paramilitary bunker in Srinagar, the main city of the disputed region which is also claimed by Pakistan.
Police said Abdul Rashid Bhat, an elected leader of Nazneenpora village, 60km south of Srinagar, died on the spot.
“He was intercepted by militants outside his house and shot dead,” superintendent of police Wahid Shah said.
Poll staff and security personnel reached all the 2,181 polling stations Monday of 18 assembly constituencies in five districts of Jammu and Kashmir where polling will be held Tuesday in the second of the five phase election, an official said.
“All arrangements including polling staff, poll material, heating arrangements and security deployment is in place at all the 2,181 polling stations in the five districts of Poonch, Reasi, Udhampur, Kulgam and Kupwara where voting is scheduled to take place tomorrow (Tuesday) for 18 assembly constituencies.
Turnout was high for the first phase of voting last Tuesday, when more than 70 percent of the electorate cast their ballots in 15 constituencies.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir will vote in five phases, with results due on December 23.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is staging a bold attempt to seize control of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature, a move unthinkable until very recently.
The Hindu nationalist party has traditionally had no base in the Kashmir Valley, where residents’ resentment against Indian rule runs high.Agencies
