Jammu and Kashmir civic polls: Counting begins for 52 civic bodies amid tight security; results to be declared today

The counting of votes for the recently concluded municipal polls began in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. Poll officials said that the counting started at 8 am, and all the results would be declared later in the day.

Counting of votes for 52 civic bodies to be held across Jammu and Kashmir today; Visuals from a counting centre in Udhampur #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/v69AyBRDbh

— ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2018

For the Srinagar municipal corporation, the counting is being held at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar and for the Jammu municipal corporation it is being held at the Polytechnic Institute near Bikram Chowk. Visuals from ANI showed heav For other districts of the state, counting is being held at the respective district headquarters. Visuals from ANI showed tight security arrangements in polling booths across the state.

Counting of votes for 52 civic bodies is underway across Jammu and Kashmir today; Visuals from a counting centre in Udhampur #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/RoE1PvRzEG

— ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2018

The municipal elections that took place in the state after 13 years, were held in four phases, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh electors. A total of 3,372 nominations were filed for 1,145 wards with poll dates of 8, 10, 13 and 16 October. [caption id=“attachment_5413631” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. ANI[/caption] Out of 79 civic bodies, no voting was held in 27 civic bodies in the Valley either because there was no candidate or only one candidate had filed nominations for a particular ward. The Valley witnessed very low voter turnout while Jammu and Ladakh recorded heavy polling. Of the 598 wards in Kashmir, 231 candidates were elected unopposed, while there were no candidates in 181 wards. The maximum voter turnout was recorded in the first phase in Jammu and Kashmir (56.7 percent), while the least voter turnout was registered during the fourth phase (4.2 percent). The overall voting percentage for these polls in the state was 35.1 percent. The fight is between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Jammu and Kashmir’s two major parties- National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Alliance (PDP)- have boycotted the elections over lack of clarity in the Centre’s stand on Articles 35A. Article 35A disallows people from residing in Jammu and Kashmir, buying or owning immovable property in the state, settling permanently, or getting state government jobs. With inputs from agencies