J&K panchayat polls: Phase 2 voting today
As many as 4,014 candidates are in the fray for 281 sarpanch and 1,286 panch seats
Voting will be held on Tuesday at 2,179 polling stations — 828 in the Valley and 1,351 in Jammu division — for the second phase of the panchayat elections in the state .
JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Voting will be held on Tuesday at 2,179 polling stations — 828 in the Valley and 1,351 in Jammu division — for the second phase of the panchayat elections in the state amid tight security arrangements.
The voting will take place from 8am to 2pm.
State chief electoral officer Shaleen Kabra said 4,014 candidates are in the fray for 281 sarpanch and 1,286 panch seats in the phase 2. He said 90 sarpanches and 1,069 panches have already been elected unopposed in the phase II.
Kabra said 601 polling stations have been categorised as hypersensitive of which 490 are in Kashmir division and 196 in Jammu division.
He said while 329,818 people will vote for the sarpanch constituencies, 207,796 will vote for the panch seats.
He said photo voter slips have been distributed among the voters to inform them of their polling station.
In the first phase of the polls, 74.1% polling was recorded. Of this, 64.5% polling took place in Kashmir division and 79.4% in Jammu division.
Re-poll was held in ward no 3 – Atholi-C of Atholi panchayat in Kishtwar on Sunday. Results have been announced for all these.
Re-poll is also being held for the sarpanch seat of Nambla–B panchayat in Baramulla district and Halqa Upper Sanai panchayat in Poonch district.
Also, polling for for the two panch constituencies — PC-III & PC-IV of the panchayat halqa Hajitara of Kupwara district will be held after completion of the election process.
Kabra said senior government officers have been appointed as general observers to oversee the polling process.
Also, expenditure observers are keeping a watch on the expenditure by the candidates, he added.
Control rooms have been set up in all the districts across the state to respond promptly to any complaints of violation of the model code of conduct.
The government has declared holiday in the panchayat areas going to polls so as to enable the voters to cast their vote.
He said special casual leave shall be granted to the employees who have to go to other areas to exercise their voting right.
The National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the two main parties of the state, have boycotted the elections over alleged “lack of clarity” around the Centre’s stand on legal challenges in the Supreme Court to J&K’s special status.
Both the parties had not contested October’s urban local body polls over the same issue. The separatists have also asked people to observe a day-long strike against the polls.
On Monday, police took Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik in custody.
In the first phase, no untoward incident was reported from any place during the polling hours. Militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen had in January warned former panchayat members against contesting the elections.
More than half a dozen panchayat houses were either damaged or set on fire by suspected militants after dates for the polls were announced in September.
Sixteen sarpanches (panchayat heads) and panchs (panchayat members) have been killed by militants in the last four years, which security officials said was one of the reasons why candidates were not campaigning openly.