The authorities in Kashmir on Tuesday said that preparations have been completed to conduct the second phase of the urban local bodies’ elections on October 10. Chief Electoral Officer Shaleen Kabra said that voting will take place at 544 polling stations across the State between 6 am and 4 pm.
He said 270 polling stations have been designated for voting in Kashmir division and 274 in Jammu division.
The CEO said 1029 candidates are in the fray for 263 municipal wards including 49 in Kashmir and 214 in Jammu going to the polls in Phase-II. He said 881 candidates are in the fray in Jammu division and 148 in Kashmir division for Phase-II. The total electorate is 3,46,980 with 1,28,104 in Jammu Division belonging to 18 municipal bodies and 2, 18, 876 in Kashmir Division of 5 municipal bodies in the areas going to the polls.
The Control Rooms have been established in all the Municipal Bodies across the State to respond promptly to any complaints of violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) as also to disseminate information to the public.
Adequate security arrangements have been made for smooth conduct of polling across the State. The Government has formulated unprecedented security plan for the smooth conduct of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and Panchayat elections in the state. The plan covers safety and security of both contestants and the voters in most sensitive areas in Kashmir and elsewhere in the State.
Adequate arrangements for the security of the candidates, their personal security as well as the accommodation arrangements have been made. Area domination, checking and operations have been going on to ensure general sense of security. Additional 400 companies of central security forces are being deployed in the state over and above the security forces already stationed.
The government has also declared holiday on the day of poll in the municipal areas going to polls so as to enable the voters to cast their vote. Pertinently, Municipal Elections-2018 are being held in four phases, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh. A total of 3372 nominations have been filed for 1145 wards.
In the first phase on October 8, Jammu Division recorded 65 per cent turnout while Kashmir Division recorded 18.6 per cent that includes Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh region that scored a highest of 62.1 per cent votes. The overall State Poll Percentage was recorded at 56.7 per cent.
The third phase is scheduled on 13th while 4th on 16th October.
Separatist conglomerate Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, has called shutdown in all poll bound areas in the 2nd phase across Kashmir. Terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen has also threatened action against the contestants and the participants in the ULB and Panchayat elections. Yasin Malik continued to remain lodged in local jail.
Meanwhile, Police have arrested four Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist outfit from Pampore area of Pulwama district on Monday.
A police spokesperson in a statement said that on October 8 Police Awantipora received a reliable information that the active militant of banned militant outfit HM namely Adil Ahmad Bhat a resident of Malangpora Pulwama, has handed over a huge amount to one OGW Rouf-ul-Islam Wani of Batpora Ladhoo Khrew in Pampore area for distribution of same among other terrorists and OGWs for carrying out militant activities in the area.
The spokesman said that during the investigation, Rouf-ul-Islam Wani was apprehended who disclosed that he had received huge cash from active militant Adil Ahmad Bhat for distribution of the same among the other terrosists and OGWs of HM outfit for raising the necessary support structure for the terrorist organisation and also for luring youth towards joining terrorist ranks.
The spokesman added that the accused disclosed that the cash amount was handed over to trio of Mohammad Maqbool Wani, Shakeel Ahmad Wani and Musaib Aziz Gojree who were all OGWs of HM. Police apprehended other 03 OGWs and subsequently cash amounts were recovered at four different places.