Srinagar: The polling for the fifth phase of panchayat polls across Jammu and Kashmir began Thursday morning amid a shutdown call by joint resistance leadership.
Voting will take place at 2,512 polling stations out of which 769 are in the Kashmir division and 1,743 in Jammu division. “The polling began at 8 AM and will end at 2 PM.”
A total of 848 polling stations have been categorised as ‘hyper-sensitive’ – 755 in Kashmir and 93 in Jammu division.
Nearly 4,763 candidates are in the fray in this phase of polls for 309 posts of ‘sarpanch’ and 1,534 ‘panch’ while 118 sarpanchs and 1,046 panchs have been already elected unopposed.
The nine-phased panchayat polls will end on December 17. Panchayat polls were last held in the state in 2011.
