Election process begins for 10 districts in all 3 regions

Voters reach 16.97 lakh, segments 1145
Ladakh region, entire Jammu distt covered in Phase-I
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 18: The State Election Commission (SEC) today set the process in motion for Municipal elections in 10 districts of the State including five in Kashmir valley, three in Jammu region and two in Ladakh as the Returning Officers invited nominations for Phase-I elections to be held on October 8.
Official sources told the Excelsior the election process for Jammu Municipal Corporation and seven Municipal Committees in Jammu district, five Municipal Committees in Rajouri district and one Municipal Council and one Municipal Committee in Poonch district started today with opening of nomination papers.
The process for one Municipal Committee each in Leh and Kargil districts of Jammu region also began today.
However, since the election process in Kashmir has been staggered due to security considerations, nomination papers for only three Wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation and some Committees of five districts including Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla, Budgam and Kulgam, were invited today.
Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Ramesh Kumar, who happens to be the District Election Officer (DEO) for Jammu district, said the nomination papers for all Wards of Jammu Municipal Corporation and seven Municipal Committees of the district opened today and can be filed before 50 Returning Officers (ROs) designated by him at various places.
Kumar said the nomination papers can be filed till September 25 while scrutiny of documents will take place on September 26 and candidates can withdraw their papers on September 28. Polling will be held on October 8 from 7 am to 2 pm and counting on October 20.
The Electronic Voting Machines will be used for the elections for the first time, he added.
Sources said similar will be the schedule for filing nomination papers in five Municipal Committees of Rajouri, one Municipal Council and one Committee of Poonch, Municipal Committee Leh, Municipal Committee Kargil and some bodies of Valley’s five districts for which the election process began today.
Besides Jammu Municipal Corporation, the election process today started for seven Municipal Committees including Bishnah, Arnia, RS Pura, Gho Manhasan, Akhnoor, Jourian and Khour. Five Municipal bodies of Rajouri and two of Poonch for which nominations opened today included Municipal Committee, Rajouri, Thana Mandi, Nowshera, Sunderbani and Kalakote (all Rajouri district), Municipal Council Poonch and Municipal Committee Surankote (both Poonch district).
In Kashmir Valley, the election process was today set into motion for Wards Nos. 16, 17 and 74 of Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council of Baramulla and Municipal Committees of Handwara, Kupwara, Bandipora, Budgam, Chadoora, Khansahib, Kulgam, Devsar, Achhabal, Kokernag and Qazigund.
There are a total of 79 Urban Local Bodies in Jammu and Kashmir and, out of them; election process today began in 32 including both Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations. However, only three out of 74 Wards of Srinagar Corporation will be covered in the Phase-I. Polling in the SMC has been staggered to all four phases in view of security reasons.
Meanwhile, total number of electorates in 79 Urban Local Bodies in the State has gone up to 16.97 lakh, official figures revealed.
Total number of Wards of two Municipal Corporations, six Municipal Councils and 71 Municipal Committees had reached 1145.
JMC which will go to polls in first phase has highest number of 75 Wards in all Municipal bodies and 4 lakh electorates. MC Bishnah has 13 Wards and 7093 electorates, MC Arnia 13 Wards and 6692 voters and MC RS Pura 13 Wards and 9746 electorates.
MC Gho Manhasan has 7 Wards and 3184 voters, MC Akhnoor 13 Wards and 7408 votes, MC Jourian 7 Wards and 2646 votes and MC Khour 13 Wards and 5110 electorates.
MC Kargil and Leh have 13 Wards each and 6069 and 14156 votes respectively.
MC Rajouri comprised 17 Wards and 14,544 electorates, MC Thana Mandi 13 Wards and 2551 voters, MC Nowshera 13 Wards and 3541 votes, MC Sunderbani 13 Wards and 2820 voters and MC Kalakote 7 Wards and 2219 votes.
Municipal Council Poonch has 17 Wards and 13191 electorates and MC Surankote 13 Wards and 2785 voters.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here