Srinagar: Amid heavy deployment of armed forces personnel, voting has begun for 43 segments of District Development Council in Jammu and Kashmir.
An official said that polling has begun at 7: 00 am in all 43 segments of JK and heavy security arrangements have been made.
In the election, Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration comprising National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Peoples Conference and other parties are locked in a direct contest with BJP.
In Dandipora village of Larnoo, a DDC constituency in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, nearly 22% of votes were cast till 11: 00 am. 474 votes were polled out of 1975 votes in the area amid tight security arrangements.
In north Kashmir’s Bandipora, over 3 per cent polling has been recorded in three Panchayat blocks that went to polls on Saturday.
An official said that three Panchayat blocks have recorded 3.72 per cent polling till 9 am.
Pertinently, in the first phase of DDC elections, Gurez, Tulail and Sumbal panchayat blocks went to polls today.
He said that Sumbal block has so far recorded the highest polling percentage at 6. 71 per cent till 9 am, while Tulail block recorded 1. 57 per cent and Gurez 2. 31 per cent.
“The overall percentage in three blocks till 9 am stands at 3. 72 per cent,” he said.
He said that 835 voters have cast their votes in Sumbal block while 143 electors in Tulail and 232 electors in Gurez block have cast their votes so far.
In this regard, the State Election Commissioner K K Sharma said that there are total 280 constituencies in JK (14 in each district) out of which voting will be conducted in 43 constituencies from 7 am to 2 pm in phase I.
He said that a total of 296 candidates are in the electoral fray including 207 male and 89 female candidates for DDC elections in Phase I.
Regarding the SOPs related to COVID pandemic, the SEC urged the people to follow the guideline issued by the Election Commission besides put their face masks and maintain the social distance during polling. He also said that sanitizers, thermal scanner and face masks shall also be provided to the voters, in case they forget to carry their own face masks/ sanitizers.
Meanwhile, Internet services in south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian have been snapped in view of the polls.
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