J&K municipal polls counting live updates: BJP candidate wins in Srinagar by 7 votes

The counting of votes for the recently concluded municipal polls began in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. The counting is being done for 52 civic bodies across the state.

Jammu/Srinagar: The counting of votes for the recently concluded municipal polls in 52 civic bodies is underway in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. The counting began at 8 am, and the results will be declared later in the day. 

Heavy security arrangements have been put in place for counting across the state. A very low voter turnout was witnessed in the Valley but Jammu and Ladakh recorded heavy polling. The overall voting percentage for these polls in the state was 35.1 per cent. 

The elections are a direct contest between the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. A large number of independents are also in the fray. The National Conference and the PDP did not participate in the polls. The urban local bodies polls in Jammu and Kashmir were held after a gap of 13 years, with the last elections being conducted in 2005.

Here are the latest updates from the counting:

## BJP has won 100 seats (24 contested and 76 uncontested), Congress has won 157 seats (79 contested and 78 uncontested) and Independent candidates have won 178 seats (103 contested and 75 uncontested), news agency ANI reported.

## BJP candidate Bashir Ahmad Mir from Shankarpora elected as a corporator of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) by a slender margin of seven votes. Interestingly, only nine votes were polled in Shankarpora ward in the outskirts of the city on October 8. 

## The counting of votes of Anantnag and Mattan -- the other two civic bodies in south Kashmir -- is going on and the results are expected later in the day. 

## BJP won the urban local body elections in four districts of south Kashmir. It won 53 of the 132 wards, where polls were held over four phases earlier this month, election officials said

## With this unprecedented win, the BJP got control of at least four of the 20 civic bodies in the four districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian. The results of 94 wards of south Kashmir have been declared so far in which the Congress has managed to win 28 seats. The party, thus, will have control of at least three municipal bodies.

## BJP did well in Shopian where its candidates won in 12 wards unopposed. Five wards in the district did not have any nominations. In Devsar municipal committee, the party won all the eight seats. The area is represented by Congress leader Mohammad Amin Bhat in the legislative assembly. 

## The BJP got a simple majority in Qazigund Municipal Committee, winning four of the seven wards. The other three wards had no candidates. In Pahalgam municipal committee, the party won seven of the 13 seats uncontested, while there were no candidates for the remaining six seats.

## The Congress won by a mssive margin in Dooru municipal committee, the stronghold of JKPCC chief GA Mir. The party bagged 14 of the 17 seats, while the BJP managed to win two seats. One seat remained vacant.

## Congress also won in Kokernag municipal committee, bagging six of the eight seats. In Yaripora, the party bagged three seats, while the remaining three seats were vacant due to absence of candidates.

## Independents bagged 13 seats in the polls.

## As per the results coming in at 11 am, the Congress has won in Ganie Mohalla, Khanpora, Wahadatpora, Bazar Mohalla, Karipora and Kharpora municipal wards while the BJP has won Narispora, Housing colony Ompora, Dobi Mohalla and Mohanpora municipal wards in Budgam.

## For the Srinagar municipal corporation, counting is being held at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar and for the Jammu municipal corporation, counting is being held at the Polytechnic Institute near Bikram Chowk. For other districts of the state, counting is being held at the respective district headquarters.

Counting of votes for 52 civic bodies is underway across Jammu and Kashmir today; Visuals from a counting centre in Udhampur #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/RoE1PvRzEG — ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2018

## The municipal elections that took place in the state after 13 years, were held in four phases, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh electors.

Counting of votes for 52 civic bodies to be held across Jammu and Kashmir today; Visuals from a counting centre in Doda. #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/RjVoBTlWbT — ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2018

## A total of 3,372 nominations were filed for 1,145 Wards and the voting was held on October 8, 10, 13 and 16.

## Of the 598 wards in Kashmir, 231 candidates were elected unopposed, while there were no candidates in 181 wards.

## Nearly 17 lakh voters were eligible to vote for 79 urban local bodies of the state but polling was held only for 52. No voting was held in 27 civic bodies in the Valley either because there was no candidate or only one candidate had filed nominations for a particular ward.

## In the valley, there were no signs of any electioneering in the run-up to the polls as terror outfits had threatened to target those taking part in the elections in any form. Separatist groups like the Hurriyat Conference had also called for a boycott of the elections.

## The election authorities kept the identity of the contesting candidates as a secret in view of the security threat to them, prompting political parties, which were against the polls in the present circumstances, to question the genuineness of the process.