Voting Begins for J&K DDC Polls Phase 4; Over 7 Lakh Voters to Decide Fate of 249 Candidates

New Delhi: Voting for the fourth phase of the ongoing District Development Council (DDC) elections in 34 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir has started on Monday. In this phase, over seven lakh voters are expected to decide the fate of 249 candidates contesting from the 34 out of the total 280 DDC constituencies in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The polling will be held between 7am and 2pm in 34 constituencies — 17 each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions.

There are a total of 138 candidates in fray including 48 females for 17 DDC constituencies of Kashmir division while as in Jammu division 111 candidates are in fray for the 17 DDC constituencies in the 4th phase including 34 females.

The by polls to 50 vacant Sarpanch seats and 216 vacant Panch seats falling within these DDC constituencies shall also be conducted in this phase, officials said. A total of 123 Sarpanch vacancies were notified in the phase 4 of which 45 were filled unopposed. Out of the total 1,207 panch vacancies notified in this phase, 416 were filled unopposed.

In the fourth phase, 7,17,322 electors are eligible to cast their votes including 3,76,797 males and 3,40,525 females. Amongst these 3,50,149 are from Jammu division and 3,67,173 are from Kashmir division.

A total of 1,910 polling stations have been setup across the UT for the phase four out of which 781 are in Jammu division and 1,129 are in Kashmir division. Out of these 1,910 polling stations, there shall be poll for Sarpanch vacancies on 212 polling stations and Panch vacancies on 219 polling stations, along with the DDC polls.

Out of the 1,910 polling stations 1,152 are hyper sensitive, 349 are sensitive and 409 have been categorised as normal. Polling for this phase shall be conducted on Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

So far, three phases of the maiden DDC elections, the first democratic exercise in Jammu and Kashmir after the reorganization of the erstwhile state last year, were held on November 28, December 1 and December 4, registering a voter turnout of 51.76 per cent, 48.62 per cent and 50.53 per cent, respectively.

In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, adequate arrangements have been put in place to ensure safety of all stake holders including the voters coming to vote at the polling stations.

Sanitisers, thermal scanners and face masks have been arranged at the polling stations to ensure that SOPs issued by the concerned authorities, including wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing, are strictly followed at the polling stations.

Special Polling Stations at Women College Gandhinagar, Jammu and Girls Higher Secondary School Udhampur have been set up to facilitate physical voting by Kashmiri Migrants.

(With IANS inputs)