December 13, 2020 6:41:57 am
In order for the elections to run smoothly, the State Elections Commissioner said that 2,071 polling stations have been established across the Union Territory: 1,208 are in Kashmir and 863 in Jammu. (Representative image)
Ahead of the sixth phase of the District Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistani troops carried out “heavy” mortar shelling along the Balakot Line of Control in Poonch district on Saturday.
Balakot is one of 31 DDC constituencies that go to the polls on Sunday.
KK Sharma, the Elections Commissioner for the Union Territory, said officials were monitoring the situation. “We always make alternative arrangements keeping in mind the possibility of such situations. We can move the polling stations to safer places if the bombings continue, ”he said.
The army’s public relations officer, Lt. Col. Devender Anand, said the “intense” mortar shelling and small arms fire by Pakistani soldiers began around 6 pm. The Indian army is retaliating, he added.
The Balakot region, near the town of Poonch, has often faced unprovoked mortar shelling and small arms fire from Pakistani troops. A Sarpanch was one of six civilians killed in the shelling there in August 2015.
Meanwhile, nearly 7.48 lakh voters will decide on Sunday the fate of 245 candidates from 31 constituencies in the sixth phase of DDC polls. Of them, 124 candidates are participating in the polls in 14 electoral districts in Kashmir. The remaining 121 are in the fray of 17 constituencies in Jammu.
In order for the elections to run smoothly, the State Elections Commissioner said that 2,071 polling stations have been established across the Union Territory: 1,208 are in Kashmir and 863 in Jammu.
Of these, Kashmir has only 11 normal polling stations, of which 1,047 are classified as “hypersensitive” and 150 as “sensitive,” Sharma said. Jammu has 83 “hypersensitive” and 291 “sensitive” polling stations.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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