Anantnag: Various shopkeepers in the Anantnag township of South Kashmir on Tuesday alleged that they were forced to shut down their shops ahead of the sixth phase of the District Development Council polls in the Kashmir valley that are scheduled for Wednesday.
In this sixth phase, polling will be held for Anantnag & Sagam DDC seats, Panch and Sarpanch vacancies (where ever necessary) in these blocks and ULB vacancies (where ever necessary) in Municipal Council Anantnag and Municipal Committee Kokernag on December 16, 2020.
As per locals, shops, business establishments are shut in the township, while people are indoors and traffic is majorly off the roads in the town and the areas surrounding it.
“Two days ahead of the elections, the Forces came to us and asked us to shutdown our shops in view of the elections scheduled on 16 December,” a business owner from Lal Chowk area of the township alleged.
Huge deployment of the armed forces has been made around the town.
Shopkeepers said that the Policemen went through the markets of the main township and asked the businesspersons to keep their shops shut for two days, the Kashmiriyat reported.
Another shopkeeper from the township said that the elections are being held everywhere, “why is it only in our town that People are being forced to remain inside their homes?” he asked.
“Every shopkeeper in the town was asked to shut their shops without being informed the exact reason,” he said.
Deputy Inspector General of Jammu Kashmir Police for South Kashmir said that “I have received no complaints of shutdown anywhere.”
Deputy Commissioner of Anantnag, KK Sidha has denied the allegations as baseless.
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