Municipal and Panchayat elections in Jammu & Kashmir to be held from Oct 8 and Nov 17
Chief Electoral Officer, Kabra said, “We shall be starting the local bodies elections for municipal bodies first and then the Panchayat elections. The municipal election shall commence with the issuance of notification. The election shall be held in four phases. The date of polling would be October 08, October 10, October 13 and October 16”.
He said, “Since these are party based elections therefore the counting shall take place when all the phases are over. Counting would be on 20th October at the respective headquarters”.
Panchayat elections will be held in nine phases starting from November 17, 2018. The dates of polling for the nine phases of panchayat elections would be Nov 17, Nov 20, Nov 24, Nov 27, Nov 29, Dec 1, Dec 4, Dec 8 and Dec 11.
Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir Shaleen Kabra announced that Panchayat elections in the state would be held in nine phases, from November 17 to December 11
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Kabra told reporters, “There will be a nine phase poll for panchayat election that will be held on non-party basis therefore the counting of votes would take place the same day or the very next day”. The notification for the first phase of panchayat polls will be issued on October 23, 2018.
He said, “Around 58 lakh electorate will be eligible to vote in the 35,096 panch constituencies. We expect a very good participation of the people in the election”.
Kabra said that the election expenditure for Sarpanches has been increased to Rs 20,000 and for Panches to Rs 5,000. There are 4490 panchayat halqas in 316 blocks in the state.
About the security during polls, Kabra said, “One does not provide security person to each person, it is the security environment which is to be provided. We have looked into this aspect and feel free and fair elections, in an atmosphere which is peaceful, would be possible”.
On June 20, 2018, Governor’s rule was imposed in Jammu-Kashmir after BJP pulled out the support from the PDP-BJP alliance government that led to the resignation of J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
