4th phase of rural poll today

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 26

After successfully conducting the first three phases of the nine-phased panchayat elections, the polling for the fourth phase will be held on Tuesday.

A total of 2,618 polling stations — 639 in the Kashmir region (including Ladakh) and 1,979 in the Jammu region — have been set up in 35 blocks of 16 districts. The polling will be held from 8 am to 2 pm.

Chief Electoral Officer, J&K, Shaleen Kabra said 777 polling stations — 571 in the Kashmir division and 206 in Jammu division — had been categorised as hypersensitive.

Kabra said 5,470 candidates were in the fray for 339 sarpanch and 1,749 panch seats in the fourth phase. He said 99 sarpanches and 969 panches had been elected unopposed.

“The electorate of 4,72,160 will be voting for the sarpanch constituencies while 3,32,502 will be voting for the panch constituencies. The photo voter slips have been distributed among the voters to inform them about their polling station,” the CEO said.

The focus, however, will on the Shopian block of south Kashmir where 17 militants have been killed by security forces in the last four days.

The joint resistance leadership — an amalgam of separatist outfits — has called for a shutdown on Tuesday in the poll-bound areas. It has appealed to the people to stay away from the elections.

However, the boycott call by separatists and terror threats have failed to dampen the spirit of voters in rural areas who have come forward in large numbers to exercise their franchise.

In the first phase, the overall voting percentage across the state was 74.1. In the second phase, the state saw 71.1 per cent polling. In the third phase, the state witnessed a polling percentage of 75.2.

The state government has declared a holiday in the areas going to the polls so as to enable the voters to cast their vote.