Polling for the seventh phase of the District Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir began at 7 am on Wednesday, PTI reported. Voting is being held for 31 seats – 18 in the Kashmir division and 13 in Jammu – in this phase.
The polling activity remained slow in the morning as people stayed indoors because of the sub-zero temperatures in most areas of the Kashmir valley and some regions of the Chenab valley. However, election officials said that the voter turnout was likely to pick up later in the day. Voting will end at 2 pm.
Nearly 6.87 lakh voters are eligible to vote at 1,852 polling stations in this phase. There are 298 candidates in the fray on Wednesday, including 72 women, according to DNA. Besides the DDC elections, polling is also being held for panch and sarpanch posts in the Union Territory.
Elections to the District Development Council is the first electoral exercise to take place in Jammu and Kashmir since August 5 last year, when the Narendra Modi-led government revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status, annulled its separate constitution, split the area into two Union Territories – Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir – and removed inherited protections on land and jobs.
The elected members have no legislative powers and are only responsible for economic development and public welfare of the region.
So far, the six phases of voting held on November 28, December 1, December 4, December 7 and December 10 and December 13 registered voter turnouts of 51.76%, 48.62%, 50.53%, 50.08%, 43.27%and 51.51%, respectively. Voting will conclude on December 19 and the counting of votes will be held on December 22.
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