Jammu and Kashmir DDC elections: 352 nominations received for 43 seats going to polls in Phase 1

Srinagar: Over 350 nominations have been received for 43 seats going to polls in the first phase of the District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir – voting for which will take place on 28 November, officials said on Thursday. A total of 352 candidates have filed their nomination papers, they said. Of the 43 seats, 25 are in the Kashmir Valley and 18 in the Jammu region. In the Kashmir division, 183 nominations has been filed, while in Jammu division, the number stands at 169. For the panchayat by-elections, the official said, 360 candidates have filed the papers for sarpanch seats, while 1,761 nominations were received for panch seats. In the first phase of the polls, by-elections will also be held for three urban local bodies – Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Pahalgam Municipal Council and Ashmuqam Municipal Council, the officials said. They said while 21 nominations were received for the two wards of the SMC going to polls in the first phase, 31 nominations were received for the nine wards of the Pahalgam Municipal Council. For the five wards of the Ashmuqam Municipal Council, 10 candidates have filed their nominations, they added. The officials said nominations were received for all wards of the three bodies going to polls in the first phase. Most of the nominations were received in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, where 196 candidates filed their papers for the DDC polls and vacant seats of sarpanch and panch constituencies. While 33 nomination forms were received for three DDC constituencies - Kalaroos, Kralpora and Tangdar, 20 nominations were received for eight vacant sarpanch seats in these constituencies, the officials said. Also, 143 nomination forms were received for 79 panch seats, they added. In south Kashmir’s Shopian, 94 nomination forms were received for the first phase. While 18 nomination papers were received for the DDC elections, 12 were for vacant sarpanch seats and 64 for vacant panch seats, the officials said. As per a statement of the spokesperson of State Election Commissioner (SEC), the last date for withdrawal of candidature is 16 November. For the first phase of the DDC elections, a total 2,644 polling stations will be set up, and the number of electors stands at 7,03,620, it added.