JAMMU: Elections to 16th Lok Sabha in J&K are going to be held in five phases from April 10. All arrangements in this regard have been made and Model Code of Conduct has already come into force.
This was disclosed by Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Umang Narula at a news conference here Wednesday.
The CEO said notification for Jammu-Poonch parliamentary seat would be issued on March 15, last date of filing nominations would be March 22, scrutiny would take place on March 24 and March 26 is the last date of withdrawal of nominations. Elections would be held on April 10.
Similarly, he said, notification for Udhampur-Kathua parliamentary seat would be issued on March 19, last date of filing nominations would be March 26, scrutiny would take place on March 27 and March 29 is the last date of withdrawal of nominations. Elections would be held on April 17.
Narula said the notification for Anantnag parliamentary seat would be issued on March 29, last date of filing nominations would be April 5, scrutiny would take place on April 7 and April 9 is the last date of withdrawal of nominations. Elections would be held on April 24.
The CEO said the notification for Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary seat would be issued on April 2, last date of filing nominations would be April 9, scrutiny would take place on April 10, and April 12 is the last date of withdrawal of nominations. Elections would be held on April 30.
He said the notification for Baramulla-Kupwara and Ladakh parliamentary seats would be issued on April 12, last date of filing nominations would be April 19, scrutiny would take place on April 21 and April 23 is the last date of withdrawal of nominations. Elections would be held on May 7.
The CEO said 9,633 polling booths would be set up in the state which is 500 booths more than that of 2009 elections and these booths would be set up at 7346 locations. Of them, he said, 4059 have been declared as critical.
He said as on date there are around 70 lakh voters including 3275241 female voters. Besides, he said, it includes 58279 service voters.
Narula said as per the guidelines of Election Commission of India enrolment applications are being accepted and on March 9 the Commission has organised a display of electoral rolls at all booths while appealing voters to check their names in the electoral rolls.
Narula said this year photo voter slips would be made available to the voters in their vicinity to facilitate their smooth voting. He said so far J&K has attained 92% of Photo Electoral Rolls. He said efforts are being made to ensure availability of basic facilities like drinking water, shelter etc at polling booths. He said first check of Electronic Voting Machines has been done and the second check would be done after the selection of candidates.
The CEO said Model Code of Conduct has come into force which would remain till the election process is over. In order to ensure the same, he said, the Election Commission would appoint General Observers, Expenditure Observers and Awareness Observers. Besides, he said, all arrangements of security to ensure free and fair polls have been made. He said videography, webcasting, photography of the polling booths would be done besides appointing micro observers to ensure free and fair polls.
The Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, A. K. Sahu on the occasion said flying squads have been constituted to check the violation of model code of conduct adding that a toll free number 1077 has been set up for the purpose.
Director Information, Tasadiq Jeelani, Consultant Election Department, Harcharan Singh, Joint Director Information Jammu, Smita Sethi and other senior officers were present on the occasion.

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