Voting underway for 5th phase of Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat polls; 4,763 candidates contesting election

Jammu/Srinagar: Voting began on Thursday for the fifth phase of Panchayat polls across Jammu and Kashmir, amid tight security. Polling started at 8 am and will end at 2 pm. [caption id=“attachment_5171321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Voting is taking place in 2,512 polling stations — 769 in Kashmir division and 1,743 in Jammu division. A total of 848 polling stations have been categorised as hypersensitive — 755 in Kashmir and 93 in Jammu. Poll officials said that 4,763 candidates are in the fray in this phase for 309 Sarpanch and 1,534 Panch seats while 118 Sarpanches and 1,046 Panches have been already elected unopposed. Some 404,283 electors will be voting in the Sarpanch constituencies and 270,295 for Panch constituencies. Photo Voter Slips have been distributed among the voters to inform them of their polling stations. In the first phase held on 17 November, 74.1 percent polling was recorded, while in phase two held on 20 November it was an overall 71.1 percent. In phase three on 23 November, the state witnessed a polling percentage of 75.2 percent, while in phase four held on 27 November, 71.3 percent voting was recorded. The nine-phase Panchayat polls will end on 17 December. Panchayat polls were last held in the state in 2011.