Agencies:

8th phase DDC elections starts from November 28

Jammu
November 5, 2020

The J&K poll panel on Wednesday announced an eight phase election to 20 District Development Councils (DDCs) in the union territory beginning November 28, in the first major electoral exercise since the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year.

The Government had in October amended the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act to provide for setting up of District Development Councils in each district which will have directly elected members, marking the implementation of the entire 73rd Constitutional Amendment in the union territory.

State Election Commissioner K.K Sharma told a press conference here that byelections to vacant panchayat and municipal seats would be held simultaneously. The notification for the first phase polling on November 28 would be issued on Thursday, he said.

The last phase of polling would take place on December 19 and the counting of votes would take place on December 22, said Sharma, flanked by Chief Electoral Officer Hardesh Kumar.

After taking into consideration all relevant factors and inputs from various stakeholders, it was decided to hold the election to 20 DDCs � 10 each in Jammu and Kashmir � in eight phases, Sharma said. There would be 14 constituencies in each DDC, he added.

While the election to DDCs and panchayat bypolls will be through ballot, byelection to municipal seats will be conducted through electronic voting machine (EVM).