Polling for 43 constituencies in the second phase of election for District Development Council (DDC) in Jammu and Kashmir will be held on Tuesday. The contest is between the newly launched People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, the BJP and the Apni Party floated by former finance minister Altaf Bukhari.
“Of the total 280 DDC constituencies in J&K, 25 will go to polls in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu in the second phase of the election,” election commissioner of the union territory KK Sharma said. As many as 7.90 lakh voters are eligible for voting in this phase and 142 polling stations have been set up across the union territory.
The first phase of polling, also for 43 seats, was held on Saturday. As much as 51.76% voting was recorded in this phase, official figures showed.
“The first phase of DDC polls was held in 43 constituencies in all the 20 districts of the UT. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere barring a minor incident where a child threw a stone at a polling station in Kulgam. Police took cognizance,” Sharma had earlier said.
The election, for which 2,146 polling stations have been set up, will be held in eight phases and will go on till December 19. Counting of votes will take place on December 22. As many as 1,427 candidates are in the fray and over seven lakh are eligible for voting.
These elections are the first being held after the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganisation of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and adequate security arrangements have been made for the polling. Sharma said 169 companies of central forces would be deployed at polling stations and during the de-induction of the staff.