Jammu: A total of 7.37 lakh voters will decide the fate of 305 candidates contesting in the third phase of the District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.
State Election Commissioner (SEC) K K Sharma on Thursday said adequate security arrangements have been made in all constituencies going to polls.
Urging people to follow all COVID-19 guidelines while exercising their franchise, he said sanitisers, thermal scanners and face masks have been arranged at polling stations.
The DDC elections and Panchayat bypolls are being held in eight phases from November 28 to December 19. The counting of votes will be done on December 22.
Giving details about the DDC elections, Sharma said there are a total 280 constituencies in the UT, out of which voting will be conducted in 33 constituencies, including 16 in Kashmir division and 17 in Jammu division, from 7 am to 2 pm.
A total 305 candidates, including 166 from Kashmir division and 139 from Jammu division, are contesting for the DDC polls. Out of these 305 candidates, 252 are male, while 53 are female.
Sharma said 7,37,648 people are eligible to cast their votes in the third phase of DDC polls, which includes 385675 males and 351973 females. He also said that out of these 737648 voters 374604 are from Jammu division and 363044 are from Kashmir division. He also said that 2046 polling stations including 792 in Jammu division and 1254 in Kashmir division have been setup for the conduct of Phase III elections in a smooth manner.
The SEC said that all the arrangements regarding elections have been completed including man power, election material and security arrangements. He said that adequate security arrangements have been made in all poll going areas.
Special polling stations at Women College Gandhinagar, Jammu and Girls Higher Secondary School Udhampur have been setup to facilitate physical voting by Kashmiri migrants, he informed.
Talking about by-elections for Sarpanchs, he said out of 126 constituencies, polling will take place in 66 constituencies and a total of 184 candidates are in the fray.
Forty Sarpanch constituencies have been filled unopposed.
Similarly, in Panch by-elections, there are 1,738 constituencies, and out of them 798 have been elected unopposed, he said, adding that voting will take place in 327 constituencies and 749 candidates are in the fray.
SEC appealed the people to come forward and participate in the festival of democracy and urged them to go to their polling stations and cast their vote.
