JAMMU: Twenty-eight constituencies will witness polling in the eighth phase of the District Development Council (DDC) polls and 285 Panch and 84 Sarpanch seats will also witness voting on Saturday across Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference here, State Election Commissioner (SEC), KK Sharma said that a total of 28 DDC constituencies will go to polls including 13 seats from Kashmir division and 15 from Jammu division with 168 candidates contesting the last leg of the elections.
The SEC said that there are 83 candidates in fray including 31 females in Kashmir. In Jammu division, there are 85 candidates including 15 females in the fray for the 15 DDC constituencies, the SEC informed.
630443 electors (327168 male and 303275 female voters) are going to elect their representatives in all 28 DDC constituencies, he said and added that a total of 1703 polling stations have been designated with 1028 in Kashmir division and 675 in Jammu division.
Sharma said that of 165 Sarpanch vacancies notified in the 8th phase, 43 have been elected unopposed. “There shall be a contest in 84 constituencies and 249 candidates including 52 females are in fray,” he added.
Similarly, he said that out of the total 1457 Panch vacancies notified in this phase, 496 have been elected unopposed while 285 constituencies will go for elections with 596 candidates contesting the elections including 156 female candidates.
The SEC said that all the requisite arrangements for this phase are in place including man power, election material and security arrangements in all the poll going areas.
Referring to the arrangements in place in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sharma said adequate arrangements have been put in place to ensure safety of all stakeholders 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,” he added.

KR Desk