Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir underway, 18.5 pc polling till 11 am
Srinagar, Nov 17 (IBNS) : Polling for the first phase of panchayat election in Jammu and Kashmir was underway on Saturday amid massive security arrangements with 18.5 per cent polling being recorded till 11 am, reports said.
Voting began at 8 AM at 3,296 polling stations -- 1,303 in Kashmir and 1,993 in Jammu -- and would end at 2 PM. In all 687 polling stations have been identified as "hypersensitive".
The reports said in the first phase polling, 85 sarpanch and 1,676 panch have been elected unopposed while voting is taking place on the remaining 420 sarpanch and 1,845 panch seats, for which 5,585 candidates are in the fray.
There are 4,45,059 electors for sarpanch seats and 2,72,792 for panch constituencies.
While the polls are being conducted on the non-party basis, the NC, PDP and the CPI(M) have announced to stay away from the electoral exercise due to the legal challenge to Article 35-A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court.
The NC and the PDP have asked the Centre to make its stand clear in the apex court on the constitutional provision and urged it to defend its continuation in the court.
They had also boycotted the municipal polls which were conducted last month.
Separatists in Kashmir valley have called for boycott of the polls and asked people to observe a shutdown on Saturday.
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