DDC election results on Tuesday; counting to begin at 9 am, says election commissioner

The eight-phased District Development Council (DDC) elections, which took place between November 28 and December 19, were the first electoral exercise in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 last August.

With counting of votes for Jammu and Kashmir’s eight-phase district development council (DDC) elections scheduled to take place on Tuesday, election commissioner KK Sharma on Monday said that the counting of votes will begin at 9 am and will take place in district headquarters. Counting staff for the exercise, Sharma said, will be deployed after “randomisation.”

Poonch: Security personnel stand guard as residents queue to cast their votes during re-polling of DDC elections, at a booth in Poonch district, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. (PTI Photo)

“All counting will be done in District HQs. Responsibility of counting is given to returning officers of the constituencies. Counting staff will be deployed after randomisation. Counting will begin at 9am tomorrow,” news agency ANI quoted Sharma as saying. The first phase of voting took place on November 28, followed by polling on December 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 and, finally, on December 19. A total of 2,178 candidates were in the fray for 280 DDC seats in these elections.

The DDC polls were the first electoral exercise in the region post the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year, which led to the scrapping of the special status of the then unified state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state was further divided into two separate Union territories (UTs) of Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh. Several political leaders of the Valley, including three former chief ministers-Farooq and Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti-were put under house arrest to prevent law and order situation from spiralling out of control. While the Abdullahs were released in March this year, Mufti was freed only in October.

The polls were contested primarily between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an umbrella of six political parties-including the Abdullahs’ National Conference (NC) and Mufti’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)-whose one common agenda is restoration of Article 370.

During campaigning, allegations were levelled by the PAGD leaders that while the BJP candidates could campaign freely, their candidates were being “restrained” from doing so.