Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): In the second phase of District Development Council (DDC) elections which is scheduled to be held on December 1, 321 candidates will seek the popular mandate.
The first phase was conducted on Saturday and 52 per cent voters participated in the elections. The polls began on November 28 and will be conducted in eight phases. The last phase will be held on December 19 while counting of votes will be held on December 22.
Giving details about Tuesday's phase, State Election Commissioner, K.K Sharma said that tight security arrangements have been put in place to conduct smooth and peaceful polls for the DDC and Panchayat by-polls.
Sharma said that there are total 280 constituencies in UT of J&K (14 in each district), of which, voting will be conducted in 43 constituencies including 25 from Kashmir Division and 18 from Jammu Division, from 7 am to 2 pm in phase II.
He said that there are a total of 321 candidates in electoral fray including 196 from Kashmir division and 125 from Jammu division for DDC elections in Phase II.
Regarding Sarpanchs by-polls, KK Sharma said that the sarpanch elections will be conducted in 83 constituencies and total 223 candidates are contesting including 151 male and 72 female candidates in phase II.
He said that Panchs by-polls will be held in 331 constituencies and a total of 709 candidates are in the fray including 552 males and 157 females.
58 sarpanchs (29 males, 29 females) and 804 panchs (548 males, 256 females) have been elected unopposed.
State Election Commissioner further informed that more than 57 lakh voters in J&K are eligible to cast their votes, of which more than 7 lakh 95 thousand voters shall use their right to vote in phase II.
Out of 7,95,118 lakh voters more than 3,88,273 are from Jammu division and 4,06,845 are from Kashmir division.
Sharma also informed that Kashmir division has 2,12,024 male voters and 1,94,821 female voters whereas Jammu division has 2,04,721 male electors and 1,83,553 female electors.
He also said that 2,142 polling stations including 837 in Jammu division and 1305 in Kashmir division, have been set up to conduct the Phase II of the elections.
Regarding SOPs related to COVID 19 pandemic, the SEC urged upon the people to strictly follow the prescribed guidelines especially wearing face masks and maintaining social distance during the polling process. He also said that sanitizers, thermal scanner and face masks shall also be provided to the voters, in case they forget to carry their own face masks/sanitizers.
The SEC appealed the people to come forward to participate in the biggest festival of democracy.
The SEC said that special polling booths have also been created for Kashmiri Migrants at Jammu and Udhampur so that they can also participate in the election process.
To a question over the claims of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti being barred from campaigning, Sharma said that no candidate or political leader is disallowed from campaigning.
Sharma said that Mehbooba Mufti being a former chief minister, there is a set protocol which has to be followed by police whenever she tries to go out. “As far as her Friday’s visit, that was not for campaigning. She is free to do campaigning for her party candidates under proper protocol,” he said.
On Friday Mehbooba Mufti had said that she was put under house detention when she was scheduled to visit south Kashmir to console the family of PDP youth president Waheed Parra who was arrested by NIA last week on allegations of being involved in suspended Devender Singh-Naveed Babu case
Mehbooba's press conference on that day was not allowed as police barred media from covering it.
