Polls 2018: Panchayat ghar set ablaze in Bandipora, 8th such incident in Kashmir

Srinagar: A panchayat ghar was set ablaze in north Kashmir district of Bandipora, taking the told number of such government buildings damaged since the announcement of panchayat and Urban Local Bodies (ULB) polls in the state to eight.
Official sources on Tuesday said that unidentified miscreants set on fire a panchayat ghar at Matrigam Tikri in Bandipora on Monday.
Fire tenders were immediately rushed to douse off the leaping flames, clearly visible from a distance. However, before the fire was brought under control, the building was partially damaged.
They said with this, eight panchayat ghars have been set ablaze in the valley, particularly in south Kashmir, since the panchayat and ULB polls were announced in the state. “Police have registered cases in all the incidents and initiated investigation to nab the culprits behind these crims,” they added.
Militants and separatists have asked people to stay away from the elections while two mainstream political parties — including National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), besides CPI(M) — have boycotted the polls on the issue of Article 35-A.
Several Special Police Officers (SPOs) have resigned after three of their colleagues were abducted and later killed by militants in Shopian district of south Kashmir.
However, playing down the resignation of Special Police Officers (SPOs) in south Kashmir recently, Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam on Tuesday said that the state has over 30,000 SPOs and if you compare this number to the number of people who have resigned it is negligible.
Meanwhile, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh and other senior police and other security force officials on Tuesday reviewed the security situation put in place for holding free, fair and peaceful polls.