J&K DDC elections: Re-poll in two seats today where PoK-origin candidates gave wrong information

State election commission had declared the polling in two District Development Council (DDC) seats in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara and Bandipora districts as void citing wrong information about the place of birth by the PoK-origin candidates.

Srinagar: Re-polling in two District Development Council (DDC) seats in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara and Bandipora districts will be held on Monday, officials said. The DDC elections took place in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2020. However, the counting of votes was withheld in these two seats -- Drugmulla in Kupwara and Hajin-A in Bandipora -- due to the disputed qualification of two candidates. Later, the state election commission (SEC) declared the polling in these constituencies as void, cancelling the candidature of Soomia Sadaf and Shazia Aslam, citing wrong information about the place of birth by the PoK-origin candidates.

All the arrangements for the re-poll have been put in place, the officials said.

They said the polling will take place between 7 am and 2 pm at 42 polling stations in Drugmulla and at 57 polling stations in Hajin.

The polling staff and polling material have been dispatched to all the stations, they said.

The DDC constituency of Hajin-A has a total electorate of 15,351 and Drugmulla 32,845.