Final phase of voting in J&K urban civic body polls underway; No contest in six municipalities

Regional parties like the National Conference, along with PDP and CPI(M), have boycotted the polls due to the legal challenge to Article 35A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court that guarantees special privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir civic polls: Srinagar turnout 1.8 %, Samba records 81 %

At a polling station in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, on Saturday. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

The fourth and final phase of urban civic body elections in Jammu and Kashmir is underway on Tuesday, amid a boycott by regional parties in the state. Eight municipal bodies spread across six districts — all in Kashmir Valley – were scheduled to go to polls but only two will see voting today as there will be no contest in the remaining six.

Pattan in Baramulla district of north Kashmir, Pampore, Pulwama and Khrew in Pulwama district in south, Shopian Municipal Committee in Shopian district in south and Dooru Verinag in Anantnag district also in south Kashmir will see no voting either because the candidates won unopposed or no nominations were submitted, reported PTI.

Regional parties like the National Conference, along with PDP and CPI(M), have boycotted the polls due to the legal challenge to Article 35A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court that guarantees special privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. The parties decided against contesting the elections until the Centre makes public its stand on Article 35-A.

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Read: Jammu: NC expels 8 leaders for opposing poll boycott call

Polling began at 6 am amidst stringent security arrangements in and around 308 polling stations and would end at 4 pm.

Officials said 156 candidates are in the fray for 37 wards of two urban local bodies which comprise a total electorate of 250794 electors. They said 12 wards are going to polls in Municipal Committee Ganderbal with a total electorate of 8,491 voters where 38 candidates are in the fray. For the 24 wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) with a total electorate of 241043, 113 candidates are in the fray and 295 polling stations have been established for the purpose, the officials said.

They also said repolling is underway at polling station number nine — Bachidarwaza of Makhdoom Sahab (ward number 41) — where five candidates are in the fray with a total electorate of 1,260.

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The officials said massive security arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the polls. Municipal elections, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh, are being held in four phases. A total of 3,372 nominations have been filed for 1,145 wards.

The voter turnout in the first two phases of the civic polls in the valley has been low. While 8.3 per cent of the electorate turned up to vote in the 83 wards in the first phase on October 8, the poll percentage fell to an abysmal 3.4 per cent in the second phase held on 10 October. The third phase of polling for civic bodies in Kashmir 13 October witnessed a low turnout of just 3.49 per cent, in line with the trend set in first two phases.

The government has declared holiday on the day of poll in the municipal areas going to polls so as to enable the voters to cast their vote.

(Inputs from PTI)

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