Two PoJK women were candidates
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Oct 17: State Election Commissioner (SEC), K K Sharma today held a meeting regarding holding of re-poll in District Development Council (DDC) seats in Kupwara and Bandipora districts two years after they had fallen vacant.
These seats fell vacant after the State Election Commission declared the polls held in December 2020 on Hajin A in Bandipora district and Drugmulla in Kupwara district as null and void.
The two constituencies went to vote along with other DDC constituencies but the counting of votes was stopped at last minute by the SEC as one contestant in each constituency was a Pakistan national.
Shazia Aslam and Soomia Sadaf, the DDC contesting candidates at Hajin-A in Bandipora and Drugmulla in Kupwara belong to Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) and had moved to Kashmir under a Rehabilitation Policy initiated by the Government of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Shazia and Soomia are among nearly 400 Pakistan origin Kashmiri wives married to former militants who chose to live and shunned the gun after attaining arms training.
The SEC at that time had said that they had mentioned wrong information on Form-6 and not reported that they were Pakistan nationals.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, PK Pole; Deputy Inspector General of Police, North Kashmir Range, Deputy Commissioners of Bandipora, Kupwara, Udhampur, Secretary State Election Commission, Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Migrants, SSPs of Kupwara, Bandipora, Managing Director JKRTC, Joint Director Information Jammu, Deputy DEO Jammu and other senior officers attended the meeting in person and through virtual mode.
The meeting discussed in detail the measures to be taken for smooth conduct of re-poll in these vacant DDC seats for which the election was cancelled due to the non-eligibility of some contesting candidates in two constituencies.
The meeting held deliberations over the transport plan, communication and security plans, list of polling stations including those for migrant voters at Jammu and Udhampur, dispatch of polling material/staff, law and order as well as sensitivity of polling stations, electoral rolls, absentee voters arrangements as well as other measures for smooth conduct of elections. It was also given out that the contest would be between the candidates whose nominations were found valid by the Returning Officer and excluding the ineligible (one each in the two constituencies). Arrangements for migrant voters, if any, from these two constituencies to cast their votes in Jammu and Udhampur were also discussed.
During the course of meeting, the SEC directed the officers to distribute all the required material well in advance, besides the staff deployment should also be worked out beforehand in consultation with other departments for smooth conduct of elections.
The DCs apprised the SEC about the measures taken by them regarding the holding of re-poll in their respective districts.
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