First Time After Losing Special Status, Jammu And Kashmir Goes To Polls Today

Jammu/Srinagar:

Jammu and Kashmir is all set for its first election since being reorganised as a Union Territory final yr with the maiden District Improvement Council (DDC) polls starting right now, officers mentioned.

Campaigning for the primary part got here to an finish on Thursday, with elaborate preparations having been made for the graceful conduct of the democratic train, particularly in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, officers mentioned.

As much as 1,475 candidates are in fray within the first of the eight phases, PTI reported. The election itself is being seen as a triangular contest between the Individuals’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), the BJP, and the Apni Get together floated by former finance minister Altaf Bukhari.

The PAGD, an amalgam of a number of mainstream political events, together with the Nationwide Convention and the Individuals’s Democratic Get together, seeks to revive Jammu and Kashmir’s particular standing, revoked by the Centre final yr. It has accused the Bukhari-led occasion of being the BJP’s B-Staff, PTI reported.

There are 280 DDC seats within the Union Territory, 140 every within the Jammu and Kashmir areas, officers mentioned.

A complete of two,644 polling stations have been arrange for 7,03,620 electors for part I, the officers mentioned. Voting was to happen from 7 am to 2 pm.

Bye-elections to 12,153 panchayat constituencies may also be held concurrently, they mentioned. Of those, 11,814 are within the Kashmir valley and the remainder in Jammu, in response to PTI.

State Election Commissioner KK Sharma has mentioned that each one crucial COVID protocols have been put in place to make sure protected polls.