Jammu and Kashmir DDC election: Counting on Tuesday to decide fate of 2,178 candidates

The overall voting percentage in all eight phases of District Development Council (DDC) elections was recorded at 51.42 per cent.

File Photo

Srinagar: The counting for the District Development Council (DDC) elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be held on Tuesday (December 22, 2020) that wiill decide the fate of 2,178 candidates for 280 DDC seats. 

The counting will begin at 9 am at the counting centres for over thirty lakh votes that were cast at the polling booths in the eight-phase elections.

The overall voting percentage in all eight phases across the UT was recorded at 51.42 per cent. 

All 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir have 14 DDC constituencies. In the Kashmir Division, the districts where counting will be held are Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Anantnag, whereas, in the Jammu Division, the districts are Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Udhampur, Reasi, Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch.

The Jammu and Kashmir DDC election witnessed over 51.76 per cent polling in the first phase that took place on November 28. The second phase on December 1 recorded 48.62 per cent, the third phase on December 4 saw 50.51 per cent polling and the fourth phase on December 7 recorded 50.08 per cent voting.

Over 51.2 per cent voting was done in the fifth phase on December 10 and 51.51 per cent on December 13 in the sixth phase. 

In the seventh phase on December 16, over 57.2 per cent polling was done, whereas, the eighth and the last phase on December 19 saw 50.98 per cent voting.

Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of planning to manipulate the DDC results.

Mufti tweeted, "J&K admin is on an arrest spree today. PDPs Nayeem Akhtar too has been abducted by J&K police & is being taken to MLA hostel. Looks like BJP is planning to manipulate DDC results tomorrow & don’t want any resistance. Democracy is being murdered in J&K."

J&K admin is on an arrest spree today. PDPs Nayeem Akhtar too has been abducted by J&K police & is being taken to MLA hostel. Looks like BJP is planning to manipulate DDC results tomorrow & don’t want any resistance. Democracy is being murdered in J&K.@manojsinha_ @JmuKmrPolice — Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) December 21, 2020

This is to be noted that the DDC polls were also the maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir since it was reorganised as a union territory in 2019. It is being seen as a triangular contest among the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), the BJP and the Apni Party.