All the district constituencies witnessing polls in Kashmir on December 1 have been declared “sensitive”, State Election Commissioner (SEC) K.K. Sharma said on Monday.
“Every polling booth in Kashmir is sensitive. However, adequate security measures are in place for the second phase of the District Development Council (DDC), in which 43 constituencies will go for polls tomorrow [December 1],” Mr. Sharma said.
On the allegations made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti that candidates of the Gupkar Alliance were being stopped from campaigning, Mr. Sharma said, “No candidate is barred from going for campaigning. Ms. Mufti, being former chief minister, needs to follow security protocol.”
In the second phase of DDC polling in 43 constituencies, 25 are from the Kashmir Division and 18 are from the Jammu Division. Polling will be conducted from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“A total of 321 candidates are in the electoral fray, including 196 from the Kashmir division and 125 from Jammu division,” Mr. Sharma added.
He said special polling booths have also been created for Kashmiri migrants at Jammu and Udhampur. He also said that West Pakistan Refugees also participated in the election for the first time.
