SEC assures adequate security for DDC polls

Srinagar: State Election Commissioner K K Sharma said adequate number of additional forces have come from outside and a “very comfortable security environment” will remain in place to ensure free, fair and smooth elections.
Addressing a press conference here, Sharma said that additional forces have come from outside and they are being deployed in districts while a few are on the way to Kashmir. “There will be a very comfortable security environment for the smooth conduct of polls in J&K, especially Kashmir,” Sharma said.
He, however, didn’t reveal the exact number of additional forces that have arrived in the Valley so far. “Police and CRPF plus additional forces will provide a safe and secure atmosphere,” the SEC said. Pertinently, maiden DDC polls are taking place in eight phases from November 28.
He said that candidates lodged in cluster accommodation are not barred from campaigning and that there may be security reasons in some areas. “Those who claim that they are not being allowed to go for campaigning should write to me and at the same time to concerned SSPs and Deputy Commissioners of the concerned districts,” he said.
Sharma said that he has received a letter from the PAGD president Dr Farooq Abdullah and has gone through the same. “The issue has been taken up with the divisional administration and will be sorted out. I reiterate that no candidate is barred from going for campaigning,” he said as per KNO. He said that political parties are free to select their star campaigners for campaigning in districts. “This process is being followed across India and in the J&K UT as well,” he said.
He said election material has been dispatched to the remote areas that remain cut-off due to snow accumulation. Asked there were reports that some people with the criminal background are in the fray, he said: “Convicts are not allowed to contest polls. Convicts can’t file nominations. This is the law of the land which is followed across the country.”