Election department to set up 278 polling stations for Kargil hill council polls

A total 278 polling stations will be set up for the upcoming Ladakh hill council elections the majority of which are either sensitive or hypersensitive a senior government official here said on SaturdayThe election to the fifth Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council LAHDCKargil will be held on October 4 The votes will be counted on October 8 according to a fresh notification issued by the election departmentA total 278 polling stations will be set up across all 26 constituencies for the October 4 election Of these 114 are hypersensitive 99 sensitive and 65 normal Deputy Commissioner Kargil Shrikant Suse flanked by Senior Superintendent of Police Anayat Ali Chowdhary told reportersHe said the polling stations were categorised jointly by the civil and the police authorities and security and polling personnel will be deployed accordinglyAfter a rap from the Supreme Court the Ladakh election department rescheduled the local body elections in Kargil from September 10 to October 4 It also reserved the plough symbol for the National ConferenceHolding that the National Conference is entitled to the plough symbol a Supreme Court bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah on Wednesday dismissed the Ladakh administrations plea opposing its allotmentThe apex court also imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the administrationEarlier High Court of Jammu amp Kashmir and Ladakh dismissed the Ladakh administrations plea against a singlebench order allowing National Conference candidates to contest the polls on the party symbolAccording to the fresh notification the process for filing nomination papers for 26 of the total 30member Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council LAHDCKargil will start on September 9 The last date to file nominations is September 16Four councillors with voting rights are nominated by the administrationThe nomination papers will be scrutinised on September 18 while the last date to withdraw candidates is September 20 according to the notification readThe polling will be held from 8 am to 4 pmThe existing council headed by the National Conferences Feroz Ahmad Khan will complete its full fiveyear term on October 1The National Conference and the Congress have already announced an alliance for the elections the first such exercise in the district after Ladakh was declared a Union Territory in August 2019Assuring free fair and transparent elections the deputy commissioner said electronic voting machines EVMs will be used in the district for the first timeHe said the entire election process will be completed before October 11Chowdhary the senior superintendent of police said additional Central Armed Police Force companies have already been deployed in the district and are performing their duties to ensure peaceful pollingThey are keeping a close watch to ensure a peaceful atmosphere during campaigning and polling he said and added that the authorities are keeping a tight vigil to ensure the model code of conduct is not violated in the districtDeployment of adequate women personnel will be ensured during the polling the officer saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever