Ordinance issued to cancel BDC polls

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 16: Governor N N Vohra today approved an ordinance sent to him by the Government last night for cancellation of election process to 143 chairpersons of Block Development Councils (BDCs).
The Governor signed the ordinance today and sent it back to the Government, official sources said.
On the basis of ordinance promulgated by the Governor, the Rural Development Ministry has informed the Election Authority, which happened to be Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Umang Narula to cancel the election process, which had been set into motion on October 3.
Sources said all nominations filed by the candidates for the posts of chairpersons of the BDC would stand cancelled. It may be mentioned that a number of candidates had filed their nomination papers after the nominations were opened on October 10. October 17 was last date for filing of the nomination papers.
The Cabinet had yesterday decided to cancel the election process to the BDCs and hold them afresh after making the provision for reservations to SCs, STs and women.