MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: Final phase today, 156 candidates in poll fray for 37 Wards in Srinagar, Ganderbal

TNN Bureau. Updated: 10/16/2018 10:52:52 AM Front Page

SRINAGAR: With many candidates elected unopposed and a number segments not receiving a single nomination, there will be voting in only 37 of the 132 wards which were scheduled to go for polls on Tuesday in the fourth and final phase of urban local bodies elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

In the final phase, a total electorate of 250794 will seal the fate of 156 candidates in the fray for 2 Urban Local Bodies of Srinagar and Ganderbal districts.

“Arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the polls which are scheduled to begin at 6.00 am and end at 4.00 pm. Additional poll staff is being deployed at 308 polling stations with large number of electors,” Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Shaleen Kabra this evening said.

Eight municipal bodies spanning across six districts -- all in Kashmir valley - were scheduled to go for polls on Tuesday in the fourth and final phase. However, out of the eight only two will see voting. There will be no contest in the rest of the six bodies.

Giving details, the CEO said that 12 wards out of the 17 in total are going to polls in Municipal Committee Ganderbal with a total electorate 8491 voters. He said 38 candidates are in the fray for Ganderbal MC and voting shall take place at 12 polling stations.

Kabra said 24 of total 25 wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation are also going to polls tomorrow with a total electorate of 241043. He said 113 candidates are in the fray for these 24 wards and 295 polling stations have been established for the purpose.

Five candidates from Ganderbal and one from Srinagar have been elected unopposed.

The rest of the bodies - Pattan in Baramulla district of north Kashmir, Pampore, Pulwama and Khrew in Pulwama district in south, Shopian Municipal Committee in Shopian district in south and Dooru Verinag in Anantnag district also in south Kashmir will see no voting.

Together these six bodies have 90 wards. While candidates from 11 wards out of the total 13 in the Pattan municipal body have been elected unopposed, two wards received no nomination papers.

Not a single nomination paper was submitted in any of the 13 wards of the Khrew municipal body. In the Pampore municipal body, which has 17 wards, five candidates were elected unopposed, while 12 wards received no nomination papers.

Out of the 13 wards in Pulwama municipal body, no candidate was in the fray in 11 wards while two candidates were elected unopposed.

In the 17 wards of Shopian, 12 were elected without contest, while five wards received no nominations.

While one ward received no nomination in the municipal body of Dooru Verinag, 16 candidates were elected uncontested.

In total, out of the 132 wards across the eight bodies 44 wards received no nominations, while 52 wards saw candidates getting elected without contest.

“Repoll shall also be held at Polling Station No: 9 Bachidarwaza of Makhdoom Sahab (Ward No: 41) where 5 candidates are in the fray with a total electorate of 1260,” the CEO said.

The poll could not be held there on October 13 due to non replacement of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) on time.

He said the overall poll percentage in the first three Phases has been 41.9% across the State.

The voter turnout in the first two phases of the civic polls in the valley has been low. While 8.3 per cent of the electorate turned up to vote in the 83 wards in the first phase on October 8, the poll percentage fell to an abysmal 3.4 per cent in the second phase held on October 10.

The third phase of polling for civic bodies in Kashmir on October 13 witnessed a low turnout of just 3.49 per cent, in line with the trend set in the first two phases.
He said the election staff and polling material have reached respective polling stations. Heavy security bandobast has been put in place near the polling stations, while security forces have been carrying out area-domination exercises over the last couple of days, officials said.

The CEO said that Basic Minimum Facilities (BMF) have been ensured in all the polling stations across the State for voting. He said Photo Voter Slips have already been distributed among the voters to inform them of their polling station.

Kabra said senior government officers have been appointed as General Observers to oversee the smooth, fair and orderly conduct of polls. “Expenditure Observers are also keeping a watch on the expenditure by the candidates,” he said and added that for the poll day Micro Observers have been deployed in polling stations, particularly those considered sensitive/ hypersensitive.

“Besides, the Zonal and Sector Magistrates have been deployed to ensure smooth conduct of polls as well as monitoring the entire process,” CEO said and added that the Deputy Commissioners are undertaking Videography of all critical events related to the poll process.

Kabra said Control Rooms have been established in all the Municipal Bodies across the State to respond promptly to any complaints of violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) as also to disseminate information to the public. He said adequate security arrangements have been made for smooth conduct of polling across the State.

He said the government has also declared holiday on the day of poll in the municipal areas going to polls so as to enable the voters to cast their vote. He said as per standing guidelines, the Central Government offices shall not be closed but the employees who are electors of the poll going wards and desire to exercise their franchise shall be offered reasonable facility- by way of coming late to office / allowed to leave office early / short absence.

The CEO urged voters to exercise their right to franchise in order to choose their local self-government to address to their local needs.

Pertinently, Municipal Elections-2018 are being held in four phases, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh electors. A total of 3372 nominations have been filed for 1145 wards. Days of poll are 8th, 10th, 13th and 16th October for these four phases.

National Conference, along with PDP and CPI(M), have boycotted the polls due to the legal challenge to Article 35-A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court.


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