Almost the entire population of the town, which had migrated during the two-month long conflict, has now returned. The local bazaar, which had been virtually abandoned, now teems with people till late evening and poll fever is fast gripping the area.

A a part of the Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency, which area-wise is the largest constituency spread over 70,000 sq km with the least number of voters about 1.74 lakh Kargil district is dominated by Shia Muslims. This is in contrast with the Buddhist-dominated district of Leh. And the main poll issue is the izzat of the two areas. While the Congress is the majorforce in Leh, it is the ruling National Conference (NC) which holds sway in Kargil and is desperate to retain the seat.

Besides its own little battle for supremacy with Leh, the issues which dominate electioneering are the acute shortage of electricity, perceived discrimination, lack of development and acute unemployment. The battle with Pakistan which raged in the area for over two months is, at best, a fringe issue, to be mentioned in the passing by the candidates.

That harping on Kargil may not pay dividends here becomes evident when the local people complain of alleged excesses by the Army and destruction of their crops and houses during Operation Vijay. So far the government has provided only ration to the displaced people. Committees have been set up to assess the damage and fix compensation.

The NC, which had been supporting the BJP Government at the Centre, refers to the battle only to press home the point that the locals were not pro-Pakistan and that they had helped the Army in driving out themilitants. The party also promises adequate relief to those affected by the conflict. The references by the Congress and BJP candidates are on predictable lines. While the BJP calls it a ``major success'', the Congress candidate blames the BJP Government for an ``intelligence failure''.

Only one of the martyred soldiers belonged to Kargil district while 27 were from the adjoining Leh district. There is, however, a dispute over the actual residence of some of these 27 slain soldiers as it is believed that they belonged to Kargil but their families had shifted to Leh.

In all 11 civilians, including six porters from the district, were killed and 24 injured during the two-month long battle. The district administration is still taking stock of the damage caused to houses and livestock but it has decided to grant Rs 20,000 to each family in the shelling-prone area to build bunkers. Deputy Commissioner Shaleen Kabra said that 2500 such bunkers would be constructed in addition to the existing 1500 bunkers inthese areas.

This also indicates that the administration and the local people have reconciled to the sporadic shelling from across the LoC. No less than 18 locals were killed when 200 shells rained on the bazaar a couple of years ago. The latest incident was last week when two civilians were killed on the National Highway near here by Pakistani shells.

Another resident, Fayaz Khan, says there will be no decline in the percentage of polling this year in the shadow of the Kargil battle. His view is shared by almost everyone in the town. Significantly, Kargil has always recorded a very high percentage of polling and not necessarily because of fair and peaceful polling. It was as high as 85 per cent during the election last year and the district has a history of clashes and alleged rigging.

The district administration has, meanwhile, already shifted seven polling stations which were to be located in the areas highly prone to shelling. Kabra said a contingency plan has also been drawn to shift another 55polling stations in case of shelling on the day of polling.