Jammu: Election authorities have designated over 60 percent polling stations in Kathua and 22 percent in Jammu district as hypersensitive and sensitive out of total 584 and 113 polling stations in the two districts in view of apprehensions of law and order related problems.
Authorities in district Jammu have established 584 polling stations, 505 in the municipal corporation limits and 79 in remaining 7 municipal committees’ limits. In Kathua, 113 polling stations have been set up in 6 municipalities, while as counting will be held only on 112, as one of the polling stations has been unapproved due to certain reasons.
“Of 584 polling stations in Jammu, 128 polling stations (Around 22%) have been declared as hypersensitive (13) and sensitive (115),” the District Election Officer (DEO) Jammu, Ramesh Kumar told media persons.
DEO Kathua, RohitKhajuria said, “There are total 113 polling stations out of which 68 (Around 60%) have been declared as hypersensitive (15) and sensitive (53).”
The DEOs of the twin districts said that adequate security arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the municipal elections.
DC Jammu, Ramesh Kumar, who is also the DEO concerned, said, “We’ve deployed adequate police and paramilitary forces’ personnel within the limit of one municipal corporation and 7 municipal committees in Jammu.”
Besides this, Kumar said that 13 General Observers and 3 Expenditure Observers and Micro Observers have also been appointed for the smooth conduct of the polls.
He said that control rooms have also been established where reporting will be done on the polling day and police and civil administration officials will work in tandem to monitor the polls.
“Any complaint during the day will also be registered at the control rooms on 0191-2571912 and 0191-2520542,” he said, adding that a holiday has also been announced in the areas where polling will be held on Monday.
The poll timing in Jammu on October 8 would be 7 am to 4 pm. Counting of votes will be done on October 22 with the declaration of results the same day.
Meanwhile, the DEO Kathua, RohitKhajuria said that in 6 municipalities of Kathua i.e. Kathua, Hiranagar, Nagri-Parole, Lakhanpur, Basohli and Bilawar, polling on 112 polling stations would be held on October 10 in between 7 am to 4 pm.
Khajuria said that commissioning of EVMs is being done at Degree College Kathua and after randomization of EVMs, the poll parties would be dispatched to far off Basohli and Bilawar on October 9 earlier in the day while to the rest of the municipalities later in the day.
In 80 wards of 6 municipalities of Kathua, there are 55074 voters, 28773 male and 26301 female. In 60 polling locations, the authorities have established 113 polling stations. Total 368 candidates are trying their luck in ULB polls in Kathua.
Authorities have also appointed 13 Nodal Officers for the smooth conduct of polls. Counting of votes in Kathua will be done on October 20 with declaration of results the same day.
