Residents queue to cast their vote during the seventh phase of DDC polls in Mendhar in Poonch district on December 16 (PTI)
Elections at this third tier of the Panchayati Raj system were held for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir and were the first mass elections after the repeal of the provisions of Article 370 in August 2019.
Meanwhile, a new vote was held on Monday at four polling stations in the Mendhar area of Jammu and Kashmir in the Poonch border district, and nearly 22 percent of the electorate cast their vote in the first DDC elections during the first two hours.
The UT State Elections Commission on Friday ordered to vote again in four polling stations following a report by the Electoral Officer of the Panchayat District, Poonch, Rahul Yadav, on incidents of “violence and illegal activities” during the seventh phase held last Wednesday .
In the final phase, the UT registered almost 51 percent of the vote, with three districts in the Valley registering less than 10 percent of the vote. In all districts of the Jammu division, voting averages remained above 60 percent and Poonch was the highest at 83.5 percent. The highest voting average on record for the 10 Valley districts was 40.6 percent, which fell to 29.9 percent in the final phase of the polls.
Jammu averaged more than 60 percent of votes in all phases, and posted its highest voting average of 72.7 percent on Saturday.
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