Fate of bigwigs sealed in ballot boxes on 17 DDC seats
Heavy rush leads to extension in voting hours
Sanjeev Pargal
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 7: With every phase, polling percentage has been increasing in Jammu division as Phase-IV of the District Development Council (DDC) election for 17 Territorial constituencies across 10 districts witnessed 69.3 percent turnout today which was completely peaceful barring few minor complaints by supporters of the candidates at some places. Fate of 111 candidates, 34 of them women including two former Ministers and many other prominent contestants has been sealed in the ballot boxes which will be opened on December 22 when counting for all 280 DDC seats in J&K will be taken up simultaneously.
Click here to watch video
Turnout for the Union Territory today was 50.08 percent while it was 69.3 percent in Jammu region, the highest among four out of eight phases of the elections held so far. Voting percentage was 64 in first phase, which went up to 65.5 in second phase and 68.8 in the third.
“Large number of people came out to cast their votes during fourth phase of the DDC elections. Long queues were seen right from morning despite severe cold conditions in Kashmir and hilly areas of Jammu,” State Election Commissioner (SEC) KK Sharma told reporters this evening after completion of phase fourth of the polling.
In Jammu region, Poonch district with 75.4 percent turnout topped in the polling while Udhampur district with 59.9 percent voting recorded minimum polling. Six districts in the region recorded above 70 percent polling.
District wise polling in Jammu stood as 70.3 (Kishtwar), 71.8 (Jammu), 61.2 (Kathua), 67.3 (Ramban), 75.03 (Doda), 71.9 (Samba), 71.2 (Rajouri) and 62.6 (Reasi).
A total of 2.44 lakh votes were cast in Jammu region including 1.3 lakh male and 1.15 lakh females out of a total of 3.5 lakh, who were eligible for voting in 17 seats today.
SSP Jammu Sridhar Patil told the Excelsior that voting for two high profile seats of Nagrota and Dansal in Jammu district concluded peacefully this evening. Along with them, polling was also held for two vacant seats of Sarpanchs and one Panch and results declared this evening, he said, adding everything went smoothly and there was no complaint from any candidate or their supporters.
Nagrota and Dansal Territorial constituencies fall in Nagrota Assembly seat held earlier by National Conference provincial president Devender Singh Rana and prior to him by BJP’s Lok Sabha member from Jammu Jugal Kishore Sharma.
Fate of two former Ministers Shakti Raj Parihar of BJP, who was in the fray from Marmat seat of Doda and Shabir Khan of Congress, who was contesting from Manjakote constituency in Rajouri district, was sealed in the ballot boxes today.
SSP Rajouri Chandan Kohli said polling in Manjakote as well as Budhal Old-B from where brother of an IAS officer is contesting remained peaceful.
In Parihar’s Marmat seat, voting concluded peacefully, SSP Doda Mumtaz Ahmad said.
Two seats which went to polls in Poonch district included Nangali Sahib Sain Baba and Sathra and the polling ended peacefully, according to SSP Poonch Ramesh Angral.
From Nangali Sahib Sain Baba constituency, BJP district president Rafiq Chisti’s daughter Sehrish Chisti and Congress district president Choudhary Abdul Gani’s daughter Nazia Gani among others were in the fray.
Other Territorial constituencies which went to polls today include Inderwal and Mugal Maidan in Kishtwar, Ukhral-A and Ukhral-B in Ramban, Jij Bagli (Reasi), Ghordi and Narsoo (Udhampur), Dinga Amb (Kathua) and Ghagwal and Ramgarh-A (Samba).
With fourth phase today, voting has been completed in 70 Territorial constituencies of Jammu region i.e. exactly half of the total 140 seats. Rest of 70 seats will go to polls in remaining four phases.
Along with the DDC elections, voting was also held for vacant constituencies of Sarpanch and Panchs. Officials said counting for Sarpanch and Panch constituencies was taken up immediately after polling concluded around 2 pm and majority of results were declared by tonight.
Authorities had set up 787 polling stations in Jammu region for today’s 17 seats on which the election was held.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate arrangements had been made by the State Election Commission to ensure safety of all stakeholders, including voters.
Sanitizer, thermal scanners and face masks had been arranged at the polling stations to ensure that SOPs issued by the authorities concerned are strictly followed at the polling stations.
However, at most of the polling stations, the social distancing was not maintained by the electorates in view of long queues of voters. But six feet distance among the voters was visible at some polling stations especially those where the crowd of electors was less.
Like the first three phases, enthusiasm was visible at all 17 Territorial constituencies in 10 districts of the Jammu region that went to polls in fourth phase today, reports said.
At several polling stations, the voting continued as late as till 3.30 pm or even 4 pm as large number of people had reached the booths at 2 pm, the scheduled time of close. However, all voters who entered the polling stations by 2 pm were allowed to cast votes.
Barring minor complaints by supporters of the candidates at few places, the voting remained peaceful. In fact, all four phases of voting have concluded peacefully in the Jammu region.
Meanwhile, Mattah polling station in Jij Bagli constituency of the District Development Council in Reasi district wore deserted look as the villagers decided not to cast their votes in protest against lack of development like road connectivity.
Locals of Mattah said they have been fooled by the political parties on the name of development and, therefore, they decided to boycott the voting this time to teach politicians of all parties a lesson.
Only five votes were polled at Mattah polling station out of a total of 472 but in the surrounding polling stations of Nomal and Thakrakote the voting was held smoothly.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
