Voting for 7th phase of J&K panchayat polls underway

As per the officials, 5,575 candidates are in the fray for 341 sarpanch and 1,798 panch seats, while 85 sarpanch and 912 panch have been elected unopposed in this phase.

New Delhi: Voting for seventh phase of the nine-phased panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar began on Tuesday. As per the police officials, the polling began at 8 am at 2,714 polling stations - 576 in Kashmir division and 2,138 in Jammu division. The officials said 892 polling stations have been categorised as "hypersensitive" in this phase, including 428 in Kashmir division and 464 in Jammu division. As per the officials, 5,575 candidates are in the fray for 341 sarpanch and 1,798 panch seats, while 85 sarpanch and 912 panch have been elected unopposed in this phase. As per the officials, all the arrangements, including security-related preparations, have been put in place to ensure smooth polls. An electorate of 4,75,865 are eligible to vote for sarpanch constituencies and 3,45,880 for panch constituencies, the officials said.

J&K: People queue up to vote in Reasi's Chassana area in the seventh phase of polling for #PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/cUmF2ebxVB

— ANI (@ANI) December 4, 2018

The officials said at the end of six phases of the panchayat polls, an overall voter turnout of 73.6 per cent has been recorded in the state, with a poll percentage of 46.1 per cent in the Kashmir division and 82.8 per cent in the Jammu division.