Phase-IV voting today for 34 seats
* 461 Sarpanchs, Panchs elected unopposed
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 6: Thirty four Territorial Constituencies-17 each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions-will go to polls tomorrow in fourth phase of the District Development Council (DDC) elections for which 249 candidates are in the fray whose fate will be decided by 7.17 lakh electorates who are eligible to exercise their right to franchise.
Along with the DDC elections, voting will also be held for 50 vacant constituencies of Sarpanch and 216 Panchs as 461 Sarpanchs and Panchs in Phase-IV have already been elected unopposed. They include 45 Sarpanchs and 416 Panchs. Most of the Sarpanchs and Panchs elected unopposed are in the Kashmir division.
Seventeen seats which will witness polling across all 10 districts of Jammu region tomorrow include high profile seats of Nagrota and Dansal in Jammu district, which are prestigious for National Conference and BJP as Nagrota Assembly seat was represented in the last Assembly by NC provincial president Devender Singh Rana and prior to him twice by BJP MP from Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat Jugal Kishore Sharma. Both of them have campaigned aggressively for their candidates in the two seats.
Budhal Old-B and Manjakote are two constituencies in Rajouri district which will have voting tomorrow. Former Minister Shabir Khan (Congress) is in the fray from Manjakote and pitted against him among others are Shafayat Khan of National Conference and Nissar Ahmad, a retired Engineer.
In Marmat seat of Doda district, former Minister Shakti Raj Parihar (BJP) is facing joint candidate of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) Mushtaq Ahmad.
In Budhal Old-B, Javed Choudhary, a Block Development Council (BDC) Chairman and brother of an IAS officer is contesting as an Independent and is facing Advocate Naseem Liaquat of National Conference and Maqsood Choudhary, brother of an SSP, from Congress among others. Javed Choudhary’s wife and former Minister Zulfkar Choudhary’s wife were the candidates in Budhal Old-A which went to polls in third phase.
Other segments which will have voting tomorrow include Nangal Sahib Sain Baba and Sathra (Poonch), Ghagwal and Ramgarh-A (Samba), Dinga Amb (Kathua), Ghordi and Narsoo (Udhampur), Jij Bagli (Reasi), Ukhral-A and Ukhral-B (Ramban) and Inderwal and Mugal Maidan (Kishtwar).
Among 249 candidates in fray, 138 are contesting the DDC elections in Kashmir including 48 women and 111 in Jammu, 34 of whom are females.
So far, three phases of the maiden DDC elections, the first democratic exercise in Jammu and Kashmir after the reorganization of the erstwhile State last year, were held on November 28, December 1 and December 4, registering a voter turnout of 51.76 per cent, 48.62 per cent and 50.53 per cent, respectively across the Union Territory.
Officials said there were 123 Sarpanch vacancies for fourth phase but since 45 candidates have been elected unopposed, election will be held in 50 constituencies only for which 137 candidates including 47 women are in the fray.
Similarly, they said, out of the total 1,207 Panch vacancies notified in this phase, 416 have got filled unopposed and there is no contest in these constituencies.
Polling would take place in 216 Panch constituencies and there are 478 candidates in the fray including 129 women.
In the 4th phase, the officials said, 7,17,322 electors are eligible to cast their votes — 3,76,797 men and 3,40,525 women.
Amongst them, 3,50,149 are from Jammu division and 3,67,173 from Kashmir division.
There are 1,910 polling stations across the Union Territory for the fourth phase — 781 in Jammu division and 1,129 in Kashmir division
Of the 1,910 polling stations, 1,152 are hyper-sensitive, 349 sensitive and 409 have been categorized as normal.
The spokesman said all arrangements for this phase are in place.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, adequate arrangements have been made to ensure safety of all stakeholders, including voters.
Sanitizer, thermal scanners and face masks have been arranged at the polling stations to ensure that SOPs issued by the authorities concerned are strictly followed at the polling stations.
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 migrants.
State Election Commissioner (SEC) KK Sharma has appealed to the eligible electorates of the fourth phase to cast their votes and strengthen roots of democracy.
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