218 in fray for Srinagar polls today

SRINAGAR: Voters will on Tuesday decide the fate of 218 candidates from 68 wards here in the second phase of polling in the Jammu and Kashmir civic elections. Nearly 4.42 lakh voters are pinning their hopes on the elections to change the appalling civic conditions.
All the five major parties in the state have fielded candidates. Thirty-six Independents are also in the fray, despite repeated boycott calls by separatists and threats from militants.
The success of the first phase of elections has meant that even the mainstream political parties, which had initially taken the process lightly, resorted to last-minute door-to door campaign to woo voters.
The National Conference, which had alleged "large-scale rigging" in the first phase, has also decided against its initial plans of pulling out.
NC chief Omar Abdullah, however, insists that the civic polls won''t have any impact on the Kashmir issue.
Even senior pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani, while reiterating his boycott call, maintained that it''s "not a vote for India" and the people wanted to vote for their civic problems. For him, polls are a tool for the pro-India parties to "exploit the public".