Completing the second tier of elections of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Jammu & Kashmir, more than 26,000 electors on Thursday elected over 200 independent candidates while 81 candidates belonging to BJP were elected to the post of Chairperson in the first ever Block Development council polls.
After the successful completion of polls, which witnessed record 98.3 per cent voting, Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar told reporters in Srinagar, "elections were held in 280 blocks on Thursday as twenty-seven candidates were elected unopposed".
“In total, 217 Independents won. The BJP won in 81 blocks,” he said, adding that a 98.3 per cent polling was recorded in the polls.
Kumar said, in the Kashmir division, 128 blocks went to polls. The BJP won in 18, Independents in 109 and Congress on one.
He said, Srinagar district witnessed the highest poll percentage of 100 per cent while southern districts of Shopian and Pulwama recorded lowest 85.3 and 86.2 per cents respectively in Kashmir Division.
In the Jammu region, 151 blocks went to polls, with the BJP winning in 52 blocks, JKNPP in eight and Independents in 88. Results of three blocks are awaited, he said.
There are thirty-one blocks in the Ladakh region, and the BJP won 11 and Independents in 20, he said.
The Congress, the National Conference and the PDP stayed away from the elections, the first after abrogation of the state’s special status, because of continued detention of their leaders.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) won in eight blocks and the Congress in one, CEO said.
The Congress candidate had filed nomination papers before the party announced it would boycott the elections, sources said.
Out of 316 blocks, the elections for chairmanship of BDCs were conducted on 280 blocks while 27 block councils were elected unopposed, he told the press conference. The poll percentage for the 10 districts in the Kashmir region was 93.65 per cent and 99.4 per cent for the 10 districts in the Jammu region, he said.