STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: In the 4th Phase of the ongoing election process 34 DDC constituencies shall be going to poll, including 17 each from Jammu and Kashmir divisions. Along with this, by polls to 50 vacant Sarpanch seats and 216 vacant Panch seats falling within these DDC constituencies shall also be conducted in this phase.
In this phase, out of the total 280 DDC constituencies in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, 34 are going to poll. Against the 17 DDC constituencies of Kashmir division going to poll, there are 138 candidates in fray including 48 females. In Jammu division, there are 111 candidates in fray for the 17 DDC constituencies in this phase, including 34 females.
There were 123 Sarpanch vacancies notified in the 4th phase and out of these 45 have got filled unopposed. There shall be contest in 50 constituencies and 137 candidates including 47 females are in fray.
Similarly, out of the total 1207 Panch vacancies notified in this phase, 416 have got filled unopposed and there is no contest in these constituencies. Polling shall take place in 216 panch constituencies and there are 478 candidates in fray including 129 females.
In the 4th phase, 717322 electors are eligible to cast their votes including 376797 males and 340525 females. Amongst these 350149 are from Jammu division and 367173 are from Kashmir division.
There are 1910 polling stations setup across the UT for this phase out of which 781 are in Jammu division and 1129 are in Kashmir division. Out of these 1910 polling stations, there shall be poll for Sarpanch vacancies on 212 polling stations and Panch vacancies on 219 polling stations, along with the DDC polls. Out of the 1910 polling stations 1152 are Hyper sensitive, 349 are sensitive and 409 have been categorized as normal.
Polling for this phase shall be conducted on 7th December, 2020 from 7 A.M. to 2 P.M. All arrangements for this phase are in place including man power, election material and security arrangements in all poll going areas. In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, adequate arrangements have been put in place to ensure safety of all stake holders including the voters coming to vote at the polling stations. Sanitizers, thermal scanners and face masks have been arranged at the polling stations to ensure that SOPs issued by the concerned authorities, including wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing, are strictly followed at the polling stations.
Special Polling Stations at Women College Gandhinagar, Jammu and Girls Higher Secondary School Udhampur have been set up to facilitate physical voting by Kashmiri Migrants.