838 more Sarpanch, Panch seats filled unopposed
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 3: Thirty three Territorial Constituencies will go to polls in Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow in third phase of voting for the District Development Council (DDC) elections for which 7.37 lakh electorates are eligible to exercise their right to franchise.
First two phases of the elections have seen good turnout of voters in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
Of 33 segments scheduled to go to polling tomorrow, 16 are in Kashmir and 17 in Jammu region.
The seats which will vote in the Jammu region tomorrow include Bhalwal and Marh in Jammu district, Vijaypur-A And Vijaypur-B in Samba district, Basohli and Billawar in Kathua, Mahore and Thuroo in Reasi, Budhal Old-A and Thanna Mandi in Rajouri, Loran and Mandi in Poonch, Gool in Ramban, Bhaderwah East and Bhaderwah West in Doda and Bounjwah and Nagseni in Kishtwar district.
No Territorial Constituency will have voting in the third phase in Udhampur district.
Out of 140 seats in Jammu region, polling has been completed in 36 Territorial Constituencies of 10 districts in the first two phases.
State Election Commissioner KK Sharma told reporters here this evening that 7.37 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their right to franchise in Phase-III of polling for 33 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir including 3.74 lakh in Jammu division and 3.63 lakh from Kashmir. Among 7.37 lakh electorates, 3.85 lakh are male and 3.51 lakh females.
Fate of a total of 305 candidates, 252 of them men and 53 women, will be decided in tomorrow’s voting. Of 305 total candidates, 166 are trying their luck in Kashmir and 139 in Jammu, Sharma said.
Along with third phase of the DDC elections, by-polls for Sarpanch and Panch constituencies will also be held tomorrow in the Union Territory.
As many as 838 Sarpanchs and Panchs have been elected unopposed in the Phase-III election. They include 40 Sarpanchs and 798 Panchs. Number of Sarpanch and Panch seats were filled uncontested in first two phases as well.
In view of this, out of a total of 126 Sarpanch constituencies scheduled to go to polls tomorrow, voting will be held only in 66 constituencies. For these segments, a total of 184 candidates are in fray including 144 male and 40 females.
Of 1738 Panch constituencies which had to vote tomorrow in third phase, polling will be held for 327 seats only and for them 749 candidates are in the race.
Polling has been completely peaceful barring one clash between supporters of two candidates in Surankote in the first two phases. Around 65 percent turnout has been recorded in first two phases of polling for the District Development Councils in the Jammu region.
Government officials said polling parties, security personnel and election material have been dispatched to all polling stations ahead of tomorrow’s voting.
“All arrangements including the security measures are in place for the elections tomorrow. Police and paramilitary personnel have sanitized polling stations as well as surroundings,” they said.
They added that more paramilitary forces have been deployed in Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Rajouri and Poonch districts where number of hyper-sensitive and sensitive polling stations is more as compared to Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Reasi districts.
Regarding the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) related to COVID-19 pandemic, the SEC urged the people to follow the guideline issued by the Commission including wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing during polling.
“Sanitizers, thermal scanners and face masks have been arranged at the polling stations,” he said.
Sharma said special polling stations at Women College Gandhi Nagar, Jammu and Girls Higher Secondary School Udhampur have been set up to facilitate physical voting by Kashmiri migrant voters.
He appealed to the people to come forward and participate in the festival of democracy and urged them to go to their polling stations and cast their vote.
It is pertinent to mention here that the District Development Council elections and Panchayat by-polls 2020 are being held in eight phases from November 28 to December 19.
Counting of votes for the DDC elections will be held on December 22 while votes polled for Sarpanch and Panch seats are counted immediately after the polling ends at 2 pm and results declared thereafter.
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